Off limits
by TeaTaster
Summary: At last, fate decided to play a trick on Uta and send the worst possible human in his art studio. In the middle of a life-and-death crisis and his heart yearning for one he should not taint, Uta will have to learn to survive.
1. No need to scream

Disclaimer: Tokyo Ghoul and Uta do not belong to me. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Off limits<strong>

**Chapter 1: No need to scream**

The days he could work undisturbed on his masks were the most peaceful for Uta. He would take his usual seat at his crafting table, blast some inspirational music on his speakers and proceed shaping the respective commissioned mask following the outline of his initial sketches. Each mask designed by Uta was unique, molded after the customer´s features and personal traits. Procuring the materials was one of the easiest tasks giving the wonders of online ordering while assembling each part to create a lifeless alter ego was the rewarding side of his trade. Nothing could render Uta happier now that his bloody days as No Face were long gone and District Four currently resided under his subtle control yet nowhere near the haven that was Anteiku´s District. He would never go as far as striving for something so unnatural as human life preservation similar to what remained preached in the aforementioned district, however, there were days, lonely days, when his thoughts wandered towards a future where ghouls and humans could coexist less painfully.

He had just finished adding the final touches to his latest mask project when he heard the door to his shop open slowly, announcing someone´s arrival. He had heard her steps descend the stairs to his studio and had smelled her blocks away, her heart pumping regular doses of red nectar. If it were any other fellow ghoul, Uta would have turned around to greet them openly yet for the occasional wanderer, precautions had to be taken. With a swift movement of his hand, he reached for his working goggles and putting them on, he managed to conceal his kakugan right before she laid eyes on him and he laid eyes on her. A human.

He watched her advance towards him in pure fascination, almost expecting her to vanish into thin air like the mirage he clearly thought she was. It had been so long since a human had stumbled into his Art Studio. Far too long.

"Good afternoon," she voiced out and bowed to him slightly. "I see you´re selling masks."

"What gave it away?" He heard himself say, falling prey to his teasing tendencies. Now was not the time to play wittingly, or else he would risk seeing her exit the store sooner than desired and so he promised to restrain any further mistakes. Fortunately for him, she seemingly ignored the question and began strolling through the shop, her eyes glued to the masks displayed and ignorant of the danger breathing only a few feet away. At times, Uta did not even need to hunt. Due to the location and versatility of his studio, some of the unknowing human customers that came stumbling inside his shop would never emerge back out. Yet, it was not the case for his one. Luckily for her, Uta was well-fed that day and lately, his benevolence towards pretty human girls quite elevated. Still, he could not help but indulge in her scent, much like a human would take a few seconds to gaze at the desserts arranged on silver trays in cake shop windows, imaging the taste of each and every one of them.

"I have an event in two weeks," she started explaining. "A masquerade ball and as you may have guessed, I am in need of a mask but…I can´t find what I´m looking for. Do you, by any chance, have others in stock?"

"I do," Uta stood up, stalking closer to her. "Those don´t suit you either. I custom design them, maybe I can make one especially for you?" The ghoul offered, enthusiastic at the idea of crafting his first mask for a human. For a brief moment, she appeared hopeful, even gracing him with a smile yet one glance at the fanged mask to her right proved enough to make her doubt him again.

"Are you sure you´re up for the job?"

"Well, why don´t we try to find out?" He said, gesturing to a chair meant for taking measurements. A second of hesitation later, she went over to the chair to sit, her eyes peering at his through his goggles as if trying to discern his reasons. Securing them better in place, Uta grabbed his sketching book from the nearby table and began his protocol questions, all the while inspecting the young woman.

"Any favorite colors?" _Ah, her hair is so long and blonde, curling at the ends softly. Would she mind if I were to take a few samples? For safe-keeping._

"I suppose I like white and gold," she replied, unaware of his ulterior thoughts.

"What about materials?"

"Silk, lace, leather," she enumerated, as she leaned back into the chair. He continued to sketch away, the pen scrapping at the paper and at his instincts._ And her skin, incredibly white, the type that bruises easily and reddens at the smallest of touch._

Upon delivering his last question, Uta gazed at her intently, strictly interested in her answer.

"Your mask…what should it tell people?"

The question appeared to stir something in her grey eyes, the ash-like color swirling with sorrow. She looked up at him, her smile bitter.

"That I am more than just a pretty face."

_How ironic_, Uta thought. Masks covered your face, concealed matters of beauty, identity and recognition thus such result would regardless come along with the mask. Taking a break from his sketching, he rummaged through one of his drawers for a measuring tape in order to take her numbers. His fingers lightly touched her face, arranging it in an optimum position, sensing his own pulse racing at the contact with her skin. She allowed herself to be attended, unaware that his fingers had snapped younger and more innocent necks once, despite softly touching her now, no ill intent awakened. With great effort, he tried to keep his emotions in check, reminding himself not to go beyond the permitted boundaries and convincing himself that, as inviting as she seemed to be, she was not a candy to be unwrapped.

"So when did you start making masks?" He looked up from his sketchbook, surprised beyond measure. Before, he never really talked to humans, not a normal, casual conversation that is. No ghoul in their right mind would bond with their food to that extent. Uta, however, had always felt drawn to humans and had wanted to establish a different relationship with one but in all cases, something went wrong and their reinstated status as prey and predator would ruin the delusional connection. He carefully thought of an answer while her mask began shaping on paper in detail.

"A long time ago. I´m self-taught and it had always been a passion of mine to help people become someone else."

"I see," the young woman said, meditating on his words.

"Do you have anything that you like to do?" Uta summoned the courage. Who knew how many days would pass before he would have the chance to chat so freely with another human?

"Tailoring," she admitted it to a stranger for the first time. She had tenths of dresses at home, all her personal designs, hidden in closets with her own sketches and forgotten dreams. If she were to ever act on her goals, she would open her own boutique and launch her own line of wedding gowns but that was nearly impossible for her. "You must enjoy it very much," the woman concluded, wishing she would experience the same freedom.

"I do. It´s a good way of finding more about people."

"It´s clear now why you asked me questions earlier."

"How else would I make the perfect mask for my customer? Even if masks hide your face, they should not hide who you are inside," Uta offered, his life philosophy transpiring through.

"What if I don´t like it?"

He frowned, never having considered the possibility. "You will have to come again."

"I would like that."

At the sound of that, he dropped the pen, wondering if the shock could be read on his face. Was she flirting with him? He placed one hand on his chest trying to calm down his excitement, thankful for having experienced such a spectacular moment. He had tried getting closer to a human girl in a bar once but she refused him after a few lines, having sensed the danger somehow. That and his style did not exactly help him either and now, that formal, high-society girl was openly telling him she would not mind seeing him again. He tried to hide the smile tugging at his lips as he reached to retrieve the pen from the floor.

"I´m sorry, I was too frank," she apologized, having sensed his surprise. "I don´t usually have the chance of meeting people like you. "Truth be told, my father and brother are very strict with me. They believe I am something to keep in a crystal cage so meeting someone like you today is new to me. I´m quite envious of you, you know."

Before he could even attempt to ask her the reason of her envy, Uta heard the door to his shop open the second time that afternoon. He had been so absorbed in the girl´s existence that his ghoul senses had dulled and he thoroughly failed of sensing another of his kind approaching. The smell was recognizable, which meant it had to be one of his customers who ventured in his shop earlier than planned. Instinct took over him and without further explanations, he grabbed the girl´s hand and shoved her into the adjoined room, telling her to remain there and be quiet.

"Is something wrong?" She inquired, suddenly confused by his actions. His mind searched for a plausible answer and delivered it mechanically.

"This customer is rather private. He prefers dealing with business without a third party involved. Please understand, miss."

To his relief, she nodded and stepped away from the doorframe, still not convinced yet unable to protest. She could probably feel the rising tension in the air and thankfully, was cerebral enough to avoid challenging it. Uta was then forced to turn his attention to the intervening visitor who had already stepped inside the studio, visibly searching for the artist.

"There you are, Uta! Hope you don´t mind I stepped by earlier," a man in his thirties said. He had an ugly scar on his face and his expression, ruthless and unforgiving, could send shivers down anyone´s spine. Unimpressed by the man´s fake apology, Uta walked over to his working table to retrieve a mask.

"Your mask is ready, Subaru-san. Would you like to try it on or shall I pack it for you?"

"Yeah, you can pack it," he agreed, looking around the shop. His gaze finally settled on a door, focusing all his senses in that particular direction. He smirked, stepping closer to the door.

"You have a human there, don´t you?"

His heart jolted but he continued to work on carefully wrapping the package unperturbed.

"Is it dinner?" The man asked playfully.

"It´s none of your business, Subaru-san. Take your mask and go."

"Just a little peek won´t hurt, right?"

He did not actually believe that the wretched ghoul would open the door uninvited, revealing the girl´s location and terrified face. By the time he had appeared in front of her, the ghoul´s eyes had turned red due to the excitement. She had understood then that the private customer was none other than a fearsome ghoul who would probably devour the both of them.

"Oh, she´s quite the main course, isn´t she?" He asked Uta enthusiastically, sniffing the air and taking a better look at her. Uta considered dragging him out by force when he noticed his eyes widen, as if he had suddenly solved a puzzle. He whipped his head in Uta´s direction to let him know the result.

"You…do you even know who you have here?" He pointed a plum finger in the girl´s face, Uta´s curiosity suddenly awoken. "She´s an Arima! The bitch is Arima Kishou´s sister, I saw her picture in the newspaper! Uta, you´ve hit the jackpot, you freak, you!"

One glance in her direction and by the way her body tensed at the sound of all that was said, Uta received his confirmation. His passiveness towards the matter slightly annoyed the other ghoul, who felt the need to explain the matter further.

"She´s a top kill, don´t you see? If we eat her and send her head to Arima, we´re going to avenge hundreds of deaths and prove that no one is safe, not even these stuck-up investigators!" His hand reached for her but was violently retracted by Uta, his tone remaining calm despite the pressure in his digits.

"I don´t intend to eat her and neither will you. Please leave."

The man shook his head, pushing the younger ghoul aside. "Are you out of your mind? I´m not letting this opportunity slip!" His kagune became visible and, aimed at the girl, promised to drain life out of her in mere seconds. She was not even going to be given time to scream.

It all happened so fast. One moment the ghoul was nearly grazing her skin while the other he was squashed to the floor by Uta´s inhuman strength, a fountain of blood erupting from where he had been severed in two. He heard her gasp and that was all it took to realize what he had done. It should have been her on the ground, expiring in dead cells and yet something had overcome him to do the opposite. He took a look at his bloody hands and then at her. She was shaking harder than a leaf, her mouth hanging open in terror. He had done it, he had killed one of his own in favor of a human. Uta felt confused, a bit disgusted and relieved at the same time. Inside, he was glad she was the one to live. He half-expected her to run out but she approached him cautiously, stepping in the pool of blood as if it were a puddle, hypnotized by his face. Her hands reached up, tentatively, and removed his working goggles to see for herself if he was one of those things her brother hunted. She dropped the goggles upon seeing his red eyes, an unhealthy pallor seizing her face. And then she ran. And he did not follow.

Uta sighed, glancing at the mess. He had to clean up. Everything.

* * *

><p>AN: Hello everyone! Hope you´re enjoying the story so far and if so, then please let me know by reviewing it and I´ll be really happy and quick to upload the next chapter. I really had to do a fanfic with Uta, he´s just so adorable! *_*


	2. Knocking at the right door

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2: Knocking at the right door<strong>

"Is it going well?" The direct question issued from a man late in his fifties. He kept poking furiously at his stake, while his gaze remained fixated on his white-haired son.

"Better than expected," the younger male replied, his dexterity in maneuvering the silverware putting nobles to shame. He pressed the blade of his knife at bite-size markings, then dragged, sliced and took a second to admire the pinky meat before elegantly grinding it between his teeth. Judging from his fiddling, his father clearly favored using chopsticks if given the choice, even when dealing with Western food. Arima Kishou strongly believed everything was to be done with finesse and a calculated shred of dignity, be it enjoying a meal or decapitating an enemy. In doing so, he would have no regrets or second thoughts about his choices. His entire life, Kishou centered his actions around the teachings of his beautiful mother, a cunning and well-situated woman of German descent whom his father had somehow enchanted to leave behind her life in Berlin and marry him in the Land of the Rising Sun. She had died young but the memories he had of her were always fresh in his memory, guiding him along the way. Before meeting her demise in the face of heart failure, that woman had reinforced education and had dictated rules forever carved in his mind for which he was, undoubtedly, constantly grateful. Unlike his father, Arima Daichi, who despite being an inspector in his earlier years, had not exactly been someone with an iron fist, his wife Adelisa had taken the reins of the house and particularly, of her children´s upbringing. His current position, his strong will and even his reputation within the CCG as the Reaper were all due to her influence, that, he knew with certainty. Through her bloodline, Kishou inherited her will, her intelligence and all that was needed to morph him into the adult he was today. His younger sister, on the other hand, had fallen into the more meek and obedient side of the union, namely their hard-working but unimpressive father. Saya was no prodigy but she was generous, sweet and extremely polite, traits which failed him completely but overcompensated with her own share. She was easily likeable and above all, looked exactly like their late mother with hair of gold and eyes of stone which frequently dispersed into compassion for the deserving souls. When looking at her, Kishou withstood Adelisa´s absence much easier. He would do anything for his little sister, his mother had made sure to instill that overprotective instinct in him the moment she realized that in her weakness, Saya would never be a pillar of support for the family. No matter, Kishou would bear that cross proudly.

"That´s good to hear," Daichi said, concluding his lunch. "We should be rid of these savages soon."

Kishou paid no mind to his father´s opinion, slightly skeptical about the whole ordeal. Arima senior always seemed to be optimistic about matters he had no control over.

"Ghouls are stronger than they were during your time, Father. They´re also more cautious and work in packs now rather than on their own, which makes it harder to hunt them down."

"That still shouldn´t be a problem for your new strategy. Killing off the top menaces of each district will surely cut down some of their confidence and even force most of them into ratting out their comrades. As disgusted as I am by the comparison, humans and ghouls are not very different when it comes to saving their own skin," the older man supplied. "Have you identified the main suspects?"

Kishou nodded and then gestured to one of the maids to bring him a glass of water. "Some of them, yes. We´re working on isolating their trails and when the signal is given, mobilize them."

"Let´s hope it all goes according to plan or else everything might backfire."

"We´re prepared for that eventuality as well." After all, hoping was not something Kishou used to depend on therefore plan B was always in order. For nearly two months, CCG was secretly planning a massive purge, starting off with the head of each district and thoroughly making their way down, to the last vermin surviving under each rock. He had been put in charge by his superiors, many placing trust in his ability to see this operation successfully till the end and for now, everything was going as envisioned. His father finished his drink and was about to initiate another round of discussion when a woman´s voice echoed from the other side of the dining table.

"Is it possible for a ghoul to protect a human?"

A few seconds of dead silence unfolded right before Daichi Arima let out a burst of laughter, his compassionate eyes falling on his daughter. On the opposite chair, Kishou kept a steady gaze on his sister, not so quick on dismissing her question.

"What kind of question is that, Saya?" The father asked trying to catch his breath, even shaking his head at the absurd thought. "You would say that being born into this family, you would know better than anyone. Especially since you once saw it for yourself," he said, reminding her of something she did her best to suppress all those years. A bit offended by her father´s reaction to her trembling question, she justified her inquiry.

"I was simply curious. You yourself said that humans and ghouls are alike."

That plain assumption, repeated by his daughter´s lips was enough to expel Daichi Arima from his short-lived good mood. He leaned over the table, placed both his hands on the table and furrowed his eyebrows enough to make his already black eyes into pools of tar.

"Ghouls are only concerned with killing, Saya. A ghoul would never protect a human, do you understand? And even if, by who knows what ridiculous circumstance this should happen, they would do it for their own benefit. Never mention this again." Clearly he was angry and it was a rare occurrence for Saya to contribute to her father´s ascending temper. In order to keep it in check, Daichi Arima stood up from his seat as head of the table and made his way out of the dining room sparing his children of any additional words. Saya did not realize she was holding her breath until her father was finally out of sight, nor did she understand she wanted him back when Kishou left his own chair and came behind her to grip her shoulders with cold affection.

"Are you not well? You haven´t even touched your food."

There it was again, that condescending tone, that peculiar choice of words that always managed to fool her into believing her brother was a god who could cut through deceit. Saya repressed a shudder just thinking about what he would do if only he knew what the little sister he loved and protected hid under that inexperienced liar face. Still, she chose risk over reason, lying through her teeth.

"I´m fine, just lacking an appetite today."

He regarded her suspiciously. It was impossible to ignore her lack of participation during dinner, especially since she always turned chatty when it was the three of them. On top of it, she kept her head lowered the entire time, clutching the fork in one hand and the knife in the other, as if unsure what to do with them.

"I see. Well no wonder you couldn´t eat, we insisted on talking about such disturbing issues. But don´t worry, I´ll remind Father to keep these matters away from you, my little sister doesn´t need to trouble herself with boring trivia. You need to focus on pretty things, for instance the fund raising for next week. Have you found a mask yet?"

Saya´s heart sunk, guilt eating at her conscience. There was no turning back now, only spiraling deeper into her newfound ability to lie to her kin.

"I don´t know yet. I…had someone craft one for me but I doubt it will be ready on time," she came up with the distorted information, knowing for a fact that she would never get to acquire that mask.

"Well, either way, I´m sure you will look charming in whatever you choose," Saya heard him say and looked up to him, seeing a smile that promised he could kill for her but not forgive her. "Alright, I need to go now but we´ll talk again tonight. Rest a while if you´re still unwell."

"I will," she promised, watching him leave on the same door their father used moments ago. As soon as he was out of her sight, the image of that young ghoul tearing the other in two flooded her mind and irritated her stomach to the point she fell off the chair, doing her best not to spill out her insides. A maid came to her aid at once, helping her up to her feet.

"Miss, what´s wrong? Can you stand? I need to alert the master and I will be by your side again in a minute," the other woman panicked and was about to run in search for someone to help when Saya´s hand latched onto hers securely.

"No, it´s alright. I´m just a bit indisposed, no need to tell Father."

"But miss…"

"Do as I say," she repeated her order, grabbing onto the edge of the table, trying to remember that man´s face rather than his tainted hands. But there was just so much blood, on his fingers, on the floor, on the white shoes she had secretly burned in the back yard and even in his red eyes, coagulating into jewels of terror. She couldn´t believe her bad luck. She initially liked him, she thought he was so different from her and at that time imagined he was exactly what she needed, someone to help her crawl out of her shell but it was all an unfortunate turn of fate. She actually allowed that man to touch her and who knew what God forsaken thoughts had passed through his head? Perhaps he even considered eating her. Her reasoning became a bit too extreme, Saya figured, and thus erased that last thought from the list. And yet, she went back on her change of heart, her father´s words resonating in her head. Just what exactly was she doing? The right thing to do would be letting her brother know of his location and help capture a ghoul, something she would never think of achieving and consequently, earn the respect of her family and friends. But currently, that was impossible because he had saved her. No matter how right or wrong her choice was, Saya could still not bring herself to forsake someone who had helped her. It was inhuman to kill someone who kept her alive and until she could find out the reason or the ´benefit´ as her father had put it, she was left to hang by a string, between her heart and her mind. To her left, the maid hurried to remove the offensive plate but was stopped for the second time that day. Saya dragged the plate to the front again, the stake looking less nauseating by the second and that had to mean she was doing something right.

"Leave it here. I´ll eat."

* * *

><p>For the past two days, Uta had been at the edge of his seat, waiting for Arima and his flock of doves to barge right into his studio and apprehend him, suspend his business and undeniably end his life on the spot. He had to admit, he had not been so worried over his existence lately; he had maintained a low profile and kept himself out of trouble, which was quite of a breather compared to the old days. His main focus had been his art studio and the occasional drink with Itori and Ren but apart from those two activities, not much was going on in his now peaceful life which was why he was slightly consternated about how quick his universe had been turned upside down by the mere cameo of a young girl.<p>

Days passed and no dove showed up at his door demanding his execution. There was no sight of the girl's brother and he heard no rumors concerning his well-being. Nothing changed. Apparently.

In between precautions taken for concealing his lifestyle and lingering thoughts about her, Uta found himself working on her mask. A quick incursion in his memories reassured him that he would never see her again and completing her mask would be a waste of time yet, he still could not stay away from that page in his notebook, the design of the mask outrunning all the other masks he had created for previous clients. Her face was still fresh in his mind, disappointed in himself by how much he remained influenced by superficial aspects such as beauty and grace. However, above it all, it was something else that strummed his heart strings and that was her willingness to know the more private side of him. Indeed, that was before she found out what he truly was and a part of him wished she wouldn´t have ran away that time. Was he truly that terrible? Did she really think he was going to kill her too after having removed the one who would truly do so?

Uta shook his head, amazed by his selfishness. Instead of being grateful for being allowed a few more days on this earth he was mentally complaining about her reaction, one of obvious natural facture. What did he expect? For her to remove his goggles and place understanding hands on his face, letting him know that she did not care for trivial matters and that cannibal monsters were actually her thing? He chuckled, just imagining the scene and was certain that somewhere in Tokyo, Arima Kishou felt a shiver. How absurd everything was. Not only did he encounter the crown jewel of the Arima clan but he also fancied her to the point where plucking her out of his memory ceased to be an option. As a result, he needed to finish the mask. By the time that masterpiece would be completed, he would have forgotten all about her and hopefully, her face would fade into oblivion, never to be awoken again.

Uta applied one more crystal to the mask, raising it above his head to inspect any details he might have missed. If he worked continuously for the entire night, he would probably finish it and since sleep was not really on the agenda for the night, he mentally considered the project done. To his dismay, there was someone in his shop who had no intention of letting him pull an all-nighter for work purposes and as she leaned over his shoulder to take a better look at the mask, Itori´s eyes widened at the intricate design.

"Uta, this is stunning, you´ve outdone yourself! Who is this for?" She asked mischievously, suspicions about romance already nestling in her head. A mask of such finesse required an equally captivating owner and being an old witness to Uta´s prototypes till now, Itori could claim that it was the first time seeing such hard work for a mask. Judging from the feminine shape, it had to be for a woman and she had to be special.

"Well?" She nudged upon seeing him ignore her question, still using steady movements in applying a string of pearls. He finally gave in and took a short break from his crafting to answer her.

"It doesn´t matter. She won´t be able to come pick it up."

"Why? Is she dead?" Itori asked, her habit of comically assuming the worst kicking in. He glanced back at her, his eyebrows raised quizzically.

"Why would you think that? I´m past that stage in my life."

"Well, why else order a mask and not claim it?"

He went back to his work, but she shook him, demanding attention once again. Finally, he caved in, knowing she would not stop pestering him otherwise.

"Because she thought I was human and then she found out I am not."

"Is that so?" Itori nodded thoughtfully, Uta´s silent treatment finally explained. "You must be disappointed."

"Have you forgotten I am not as soft as I speak? I only saw her once, it´s not even worth mentioning."

She smiled secretly, knowing better. As private as that particular ghoul liked to be, Itori could always see right through him and Ren which was why the three of them could get along. Not worth mentioning but there he was, working on a dead project. It was obvious he was silently healing the incipient ache in his heart with what he had at his disposal.

"Sometimes, once is all it takes," she told him, not expecting him to almost make her swallow her words.

"To have your heart broken, you mean?"

Itori blinked slowly, bitter about remembering something painful.

"Maybe. But I still regret nothing, Uta."

He shouldn´t have said anything. The moment the words left his lips he felt remorseful for employing such impulsive behavior. After all, that tragic story between Itori and a human male was still current talk between common acquaintances. When they were younger, Itori disregarded useful advice and went ahead to fall in love with a certain lawyer she knew through some university colleague. Their happiness, short and ignorant, lasted until a fellow ghoul found out about the romance and preyed on her loved one in a dark, sullen ally. Needless to say, Itori was destroyed and ripping to shreds the murderer could not even begin to mend her heart. Luckily for her, she had Uta and Ren to fall back on and for that, she could never truly be mad at them, no matter their actions.

"Oh come now, don´t be so sad, there´s nothing to worry about. So, is she pretty? She is, isn´t she? You are one to like pretty things!"

He sighed, thankful to see her back to normal but not eager to answer her questions.

"Tell me!" The redhead insisted.

"No."

"Then how about this?" She tried again, not willing to give up just yet. "You go out drinking with me or else I´m not moving from here until you tell me everything about her."

"I know better than to trust in your deals, Itori."

"What other choice do you have?" And with that, she flopped in the nearby chair, proving that she was serious about spending the entire night at the studio. Truth be spoken, when Itori decided on something, she went through hell and back to see it accomplished. No other selection available, he forced himself to his feet, insecurely accepting her proposal. When she finally saw him standing, she glued herself onto his arm enthusiastically, dragging him towards the exit. His head remained turned towards the mask, Itori giggling at his childlessness.

"It´s not going anywhere, don´t be afraid. Now tell me, what´s her name?"

"I thought you said no questions."

"Maybe just five of them."

"No."

"Three?"

"Only two."

"It´s a deal! Ten it is!"

He allowed himself to be dragged away, faintly amused by how well she manipulated anyone into giving into her wishes.

"Do you have to be so persistent?"

"Always! Persistence is the key to success, Uta!" With that said, they both got engulfed by the outside darkness, Itori´s laughter blending into the city racket.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello everyone, I hope you´re liking where this is going :) . I know this chapter did not have much of Saya and Uta together but I´m trying to make this story about something more than just "boy meets girl" and for that, I need to set up my plot pillars. I promise that the next chapter will have proper interaction between the two of them.

Thank you to all of the ones who are currently following my story and added it to their favorites and especially to the ones who reviewed it, I´m happy to get some love so please drop a line if you can.^^

And now, special thanks to my reviewers:

**detremental: **My first reviewer! Thank you so much for your interest in the fanfic, it really makes me happy to know that someone appreciates it to such an extent. He really is a contradicting character, isn´t he? He looks scary but he´s so soft-spoken and sadistically funny. I hope that you will continue reviewing and reading! **:)**

**Pheles-sama: **You´re right, not many stories about Uta. I thought the fanfiction base would be overflowing but it´s not the case. And I usually don´t like characters popping out of nowhere so everything has to be connected, which is why Saya is Arima´s sister. Thank you for your kind words, hope to see you here again soon!

**VictoriaPie: **Thank you for the praise, it´s not that easy keeping Uta in character, he seems someone who thinks about things a lot but doesn´t voice out everything that´s on his mind. We´ll just have to wait and see!

**Wiro: **Thanks, hopefully I´ll be able to keep things interesting for you so let me know how the rest goes *wink

**ohmyyato: **I figured that Saya being Arima´s sister would be the worst case scenario XD. A lot of drama and funny scenes will follow from now on so please step by again! Thanks for the review, it really makes me want to write more for all of you.

**Skydragon: **All is forgiven, the crude language is praising my story after all :P. Thank you so much! And since you like it so much, here´s chapter 2 for you.

**Kittyface2: **You´re amazing too for reviewing! The story will become more complicated from now on so please bear with it and enjoy it!

**Dawn: **Hello back, thank you! I´ll be looking forward to seeing you around here for the next chapters as well.

**Guest (1): **Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Now that I´ve got you hooked, let´s see if I can reel you in! :)) You´re welcome here again!

**ira: **XD Hey, sometimes, death is necessary. Thank you for everything, Uta is really adorable!

**Guest (2) : **Many thanks, I´m so glad you like it! Let me know what you think about the next chapters.

**Eha1027: **I am actually planning on making it a long one, it takes time to develop characters and relationships. Please join me on this long journey. Thank you.^^


	3. In limbo

**Disclaimer**:** **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: In limbo<strong>

At the far back of an abandoned warehouse, a poker table hosted the tired silhouettes of two motionless ghouls, both doing their best at outsmarting the other in their game of cards. They kept looking ahead, their greasy fingers grasping their handful of cards, waiting for the other to either give a sign of weakness or close the game with a long-expected victory. They were both good at it, having won countless of rounds before but when facing against each other, they always felt that they had met their match, which was why the games lasted close to forever. One of them, a fat and pouty individual dwelled in tension, waiting for his boss to make a move. The boss, however, remained uninterested in advancing the round. Unable to withstand the silence any longer, the fat one humbly addressed his superior.

"I think it´s your turn, Boss."

"I know that, Susu-chan," he said calmly, not taking his eyes of the row of kings he so carefully collected in his hand. "Are you impatient?"

"No, Boss," Susuyama answered, lowering his head in obedience. He knew better than to anger that man.

"Good. Patience is really important but I was starting to run out of it myself with your late arrival, Yamada." At the sound of that, Susuyama´s head turned to his left, watching with interest how Yamada, one of his close comrades and an avid loyal to their boss, emerged from darkness. The brunette walked over to the table, his daft tone trying to turn apologetic.

"Sorry, Boss. It´s not that easy trying to find someone in this city. But I gave it my best shot."

"And?" The highest in rank prompted. "Did you find him?"

"Nope. He´s nowhere to be found. I think it´s safe to think Subaru´s dead."

He sighed, looking at his two underlings. Yamada was probably right, Subaru was not one to go missing for several days. Sure, a day or two was not uncommon but that limit had been crossed a while ago and the theory over him being dead was not that far-fetched. In their world, such things were not unusual. You could go out in the morning and fail to come back home if you were as unlucky as to come face to face with a vengeful dove. And not to mention the fact that Subaru was a punctual lad. Always. Years back, when they met for the first time, Subaru had been a cocky, rude bastard who thought he could overthrow him without proper effort, reason why he taught him a lesson of survival and with his kagune, he gave Subaru a scar across his face to remind him of his debility. After being taken under his wing, Subaru acquired deep respect for his newly-proclaimed boss and ran all types of errands for him without fail. He was not one to mourn the death of his comrades but Subaru had been useful. Unfortunately, that bastard chose to exhaust his usefulness precisely on the one time he was needed the most. His death came at the worst possible time.

"It´s a problem," Yamada took the words straight out of his mouth. "Who the hell are we gonna find to fill his place?"

"We can ask around," Susuyama suggested, not very sure about it.

"Don´t be stupid. On such short notice, no one´s gonna want to do it. We´re screwed."

He listened to his men argue about it, his own mind trying to come up with answers. Yamada was right, it was impossible to co-opt someone on such-short notice, not to mention they could not trust just anybody with the job. Subaru had to be the one to do it, he even got the van for the job. In the midst of his thinking, a sudden thought struck him.

"Yamada. Where was he last seen?"

"His trail stopped at HySy Art Mask Studio. That place belongs to Uta."

"No Face," the boss affirmed, at which Yamada nodded.

"That sucks," the other seated ghoul said. He shifted in his chair uncomfortably, having heard the rumors about the infamous No Face. A buddy of his had died a long time ago in a confrontation with him and since then, Susuyama had consciously stayed away from District Four. If possible, he would like to avoid any type of contact with that particular ghoul but the grin he spotted stretching dangerously on his boss´ face pointed out the contrary. He gulped and asked a question that had already been internally answered.

"What do we do, Boss?"

"Well, what else?" The man in question challenged, as he threw his hand of cards on the table. "We´ll just have to pay No Face a visit."

* * *

><p>Morning had started well for Kaneki Ken. At exactly 8 am, he had opened the door to the Anteiku café, ready to receive the upcoming customers for the day. As per usual, he had tidied his uniform and sharply arranged his tie at his shirt collar while also tying the black apron around his waist in a secure, double knot. His shift, together with Nishiki and Touka, had never been once uneventful despite its already habitual aspect. No matter the task, Nishiki and Touka were always at each other´s throat, bickering away about things Kaneki could not be bothered to remember, as simplistic as they were. Be it the way Nishiki cleared out the tables or took a customer´s order, Touka constantly had something to correct.<p>

"You´re not holding the tray properly, you´re going to drop it one day."

"I´m holding it just fine, stop complaining," Nishiki at times replied, not particularly interested.

"And stop slouching, you´re not setting a good example," she would often say.

"As if you´re standing any better, always pointing at me."

"And smile, Nishiki!"

"I´m smiling at the customers, aren´t I? It doesn´t mean I have to do it for you too."

"You´re forgetting who took you in, you bastard! Don´t mock Anteiku´s generosity," she preached, almost always followed by a slap at the back of his head.

Before he knew any better, Kaneki would intervene in their little conflicts and attempt of settling them down but instead, would end making matters worse and even receive a few physical warnings from Touka as well. It didn´t take long for him to understand that it was just the way Touka chose to get closer to them, having difficulties expressing her emotions properly. And so he kept his distance from the brawl and resorted to smiling compassionately to the customers whenever they had to witness one of such scenes. Little by little, he had gotten used to his new life at Anteiku, even going as far as entering a routine. His responsibilities included keeping the cups clean, serving cake and brewing his own coffee specialties for the customers. Even the darker side of living at Anteiku was now easier to bear; eating human flesh was still as horrifying as ever but having it originate from sources he did not personally had to kill made it a bit more sufferable. Not everything was perfect, though, his ghoul side never letting him take a break and perpetually trying to take over him but with the help of the friends he had found in that café, Kaneki could manage somehow. Indeed, he had to live in fear of investigators and other ghouls but not all was as black as it was in the beginning.

From the corner of his eye, Kaneki saw Nishiki approaching with a tray of dirty cups. He took the tray from him and began cleaning each. If there was something he liked the most about that café, it had to be the windows. They were wide and long and sunlight made its way inside easily, offering the place a cozy, warm atmosphere. You could see all the people passing through, unaware of the ghouls serving coffee on the premise. A flash of gold caught Kaneki´s attention and upon seeing the person pass by, he exclaimed in surprise, drawing Nishiki´s gaze to the window as well.

"Arima," Nishiki announced, having spotted the blonde at the last second.

Kaneki turned off the warm water and asked curiously.

"Do you know, Saya-san too, Nishiki-san?"

"Of course I do," he replied, his tone dropping a note and his eyes flashing offensively.

"I suppose you do. The three of us go to the same university and she did finish top of our group this year," Kaneki said, apparently figuring out the reason why they were all acquainted.

"That´s not the reason I know her."

"I…don´t understand, Nishiki-san."

Nishiki frowned, taking a better look at Kaneki. "They don´t tell you much, do they?" The taller ghoul asked, referring to the entire Anteiku team who found no urgency in informing Kaneki about all that was important in this new world he had so innocently stepped into. "Kaneki, have you ever heard of Arima Kishou?"

The younger boy took a few seconds to rack his brain for the name and when finding no connection he shook his head in denial. Half-expecting the answer, Nishiki sighed, wondering how to explain it in the best and shortest way. He cleared his throat and offered the explanation under Touka´s watchful eye.

"Listen, Kaneki. There are four important doves you should keep away from at all costs. They´re all part of the Special Unit and if you meet them in a dark alley, you can say your farewell prayers. They are Kuroiwa Iwao, Marude Itsuki, Shinohara Yukinori and last but not least, Arima Kishou. Arima is the prodigy of the team, also known as _The Reaper _and I suppose you might imagine for yourself why they call him that. "

Kaneki listened and by the time Nishiki finished, his mouth hanged in consternation as his brain absorbed the latest presented information. He took a step backwards, his head heavy with inquires.

"Nishiki-san….are you saying that Saya-san is…"

"Arima´s sister. Do you understand now?"

In his confusion, Kaneki grabbed Nishiki by the arm when he saw him leave his place by the sink, dark thoughts swirling and affecting his reason.

"You´re not planning on hurting her, are you, Nishiki? Please, Saya is off limits. She may be Arima´s sister but I´ve talked to her a few times, she´s not a bad person."

"As always, you´re so naive, Kaneki. It´s surprising you´ve made it this far, really," the ghoul in question remarked, a bit taken aback by his co-worker´s plea. It seemed Kaneki could still not remember he was no longer human and that in his current condition, his human friends could always turn into foes. "And let go of my hand, I won´t do anything. I was just going to attend that table over there. If anything should happen to her in this area, they would be raiding this place like crazy and erasing us all."

Relieved to hear him say that, Kaneki exhaled a long breath, releasing Nishiki´s arm. Positioned at the far end of the room, Touka planned to give them no break.

"Nishiki, table three!"

"I got it already! Irritating brat!"

As a sign of protest, he threw the washing cloth he was twirling around in the sink and headed toward the respective table, allowing time for Kaneki to calm his beating heart. He reacted without notice, on instinct. Knowing Nishiki, and more accurately, ghoul nature in general, even his close ones were unpredictable, therefore he was pleased with himself for biding time for Saya. How many other shocks were on their way to Kaneki´s brain? It was as if day after day, he uncovered secrets that could overthrow his life in a second and he could not find enough strength to deal with them accordingly.

Arima Saya. The sister of a highly dangerous investigator. Kaneki still couldn´t believe it. Both him and Saya attended the same Modern Literature class in university and had shared ideas about books from time to time. Due to her foreign looks, it was nearly impossible to get past the hoard of people flocking around her but in the comfort of their university´s library, he had the occasional talk with her, both of them bonding over various authors. He could not claim he knew much about her, but she had been kind to him and had bothered to discuss with someone as plain as him and for that he had been grateful and had deemed her a very open person. It was actually Saya who lent him ´The Black Goat´s Egg´ by Takatsuki Sen to read which he loved so much he bought his own copy to keep. _The book that started it all_, Kaneki realized ironically when remembering that if it wasn´t for that book, he wouldn´t have had the courage to talk to miss Rize. In fact, everything was ironic. Just yesterday, they were both simply university colleagues and now, he was a ghoul and she was, well, the sister of the one who could execute him. Kaneki wondered if she would continue being that nice to him if knowing what he truly was and chose to ignore the answer. It was not fair for her to be dragged into this world, even if she had to be in it due to her brother. He had been dragged into this world as well, without asking for anything and he was certain Saya wanted to stay away from it all too. He only prayed that she would never have to learn what he hid inside, like many others who lived in fear and darkness.

* * *

><p>She had been aimlessly wandering off the streets for the past thirty minutes before she realized that her steps were taking her no place specific. When Saya came to her senses, she had just passed a café in an unfamiliar district.<p>

_Where am I?_ She asked herself, scanning the place carefully. When she failed recognizing at least one element of the street, she headed for the nearby cab she spotted earlier. She jumped in, stated her destination and allowed herself to be taken there while mulling over overthought solutions to her problems. Wasn´t there a saying that stated ´time heals everything´? It did help with overcoming her anxiety about the brutal murder she had experienced but while that aided with easing her shock over it and diminished the instances in which she jumped at every knock on her door, it also made her more conscious of that man, explicitly of that ghoul named Uta. His face was still so fresh in her mind, haunting her with his soft voice and gentle touch that tiredly kept her awake each night since the incident. She needed to see him. She needed to ask him questions and just talk to him, find a way to cope with everything, yet the moment the cab dropped her in front of his studio, her conviction was far from solid.

"What an imbecilic thing to do," she voiced out to herself, still not understanding the forces that drove her back to that place of peril. There was no guarantee he would save her again if, for instance, the studio was now swarming with ghouls but she could not stand sitting at home, pestered by the haunting image of him, playing over and over again in her head. Today, she had to put an end to that cycle. Now or never and so her fingers grasped onto the door´s handle and pulled it open, to reveal a very calm Uta with his arms crossed at his chest, as if waiting for her exclusively. She gaped at him, her heart skipping a beat, clearly not expecting to stand face to face with him in the doorframe.

"Did you…did you know I was coming?"

"Ghouls have privileged senses. In a way, I did," he responded, his soothing voice filling her ears with familiar thirst. He was just as she remembered; tall, intimidating and highly captivating. This time, he was not wearing any goggles, which was why she could see his red eyes in full daylight, expressing no lesser emotions than those of humans. "And indeed, what you´re doing is unwise," Uta added, replacing her earlier adjective with a kinder one, proving that he had heard her talk outside the door. "What are you doing here?"

Her mind searched for the proper answer immediately. "I´m here for my mask. Do you have any other customers?" She asked, looking past his shoulders inside the studio, seeing if she could spot anyone inside.

"No, not until later in the afternoon."

"Then it´s safe now," she concluded, at which he titled his head.

"If that´s how you see it."

It felt as if he was playing with her, subtly trying to see which buttons he could push, what limits he could make her cross, which was a very obnoxious course of action for him, giving the sincerity she brought with herself especially for this reunion. She was not about to let him take control of the whole situation and therefore gently pushed him from the doorway enough to enter the studio on her own. Uta allowed her to enter, much to his curiosity´s qualms. Finally inside, Saya went near a row of unfamiliar masks in hopes of identifying her own, leaving Uta no other option but to close the door and join her further in his shop. As a measure of precaution, he locked the door to prevent any other unexpected guests that would require immediate assassination.

"Well? Is it ready?" Uta heard her say and fairly assumed she was referring to her mask. Without further ado, he walked over to a concealed stand and removed the covering sheet. Saya´s mask was thus ceremoniously revealed, her breath sucked out of her chest at the sight of it. The mask, a composition of white and gold, had rays of sun emerging from the right brow section, the entire piece covering only the eyes portion, leaving the rest of the owner´s skin to show through. Rows of crystals gathered under the cheeks, contouring their way down to the mouth and from the sides, stands of pearls were falling down asymmetrically, resembling rivers of tears. It was, by far, the most beautiful thing Saya had ever seen in her life. She got closer to it, her hands reaching out shyly, almost afraid to touch it. She took it in her palms and breathed out:

"Thank you. It´s absolutely wonderful."

The smile she graced him with had suddenly began to worth all the sleepless nights he had spent working away at it, crafting and perfecting something that, now seeing in completed form, could still not amount to her radiance.

"How much do I owe you?"

"Nothing. You can take it in exchange for scaring you," Uta offered, going to sit in the farthest corner of the room.

Saya frowned, bringing the mask closer to her chest, nearly displeased with the arrangement. "You didn´t scare me, " she lied, concocting her own method of repayment. "And I can´t accept it like this. Maybe I can take you out to an art gallery, some place neutral, you can pick," she suggested, hoping to hear an affirmative answer. The gods were not on her side that day though, for Uta was not planning to give in that easily.

"That is not a very good idea. I will have to refuse."

"It´s just admiring some crafts and we don´t have to stay long…"

"I hope you haven´t forgotten what I am and what you are to me," he interrupted her, reminding Saya their positions. Her frown deepened, her fist tightened. She did not think she would experience such outward rejection.

"How could I forget?" Only she knew how much distress she experienced each night after the incident, having trouble sleeping and eating and even talking to others but eventually, she had built up the courage to return to her place of torture in search for some sort of inexplicable peace. "But you can´t cut me off just because we…"

_Are predator and prey? Are meant to run away from each other? Are two opposite species?_ Uta mentally filled in her sentence with all the sensible choices.

"…have a completely different diet!" She finished in frustration, bringing Uta to the edge of hilarity. He choked back a laugh, amazed by her ability to bring humor in an issue so serious. Without doubt, he was probably never going to meet someone like her for as long as he would live; pretty, stupidly brave and too kind for her own good. He felt a sinner just by looking at her. It was already too much having her return to his studio, blessed with the opportunity to see the young woman again. He fancied her, he finally admitted it to himself, and he wanted her alive. For that to stay a fact, he had to keep her as far away as possible from him.

"I´m sorry Arima-san, but it´s impossible for us to meet up from now on. Especially giving who you are."

Whether she agreed to it or not, she continued her trials of winning him over. "You mean because I am his sister? I haven´t even told my brother anything, isn´t this proof of my trust?"

"It´s too early to talk about trust, miss. In our situation, you being investigator Arima´s sister will surely facilitate betrayal in the future."

"I would never…"

"To be more frank," Uta raised his voice to cover hers, "you will never be anything else than food to me, miss."

He underestimated her reaction. He never thought his words would have such devastating effect on her serene face. All of a sudden, her grey eyes turned sad, rivaling with the melancholic motif of her mask.

"Then why did you save me?"

Hearing the inquiry, Uta did not move an inch, apparently not fazed by the question. As a reply, he counteracted with his own curiosity.

"Why are you really here, miss?"

As a response, she also remained motionless yet her lips pressed together tightly, as if afraid words would uncontrollably escape her lips.

He sighed, realizing that everything which was about to start was currently running to its end. "It seems these two questions are to remain unanswered."

Would she start crying? She did look oh so fragile and there was certainly tension in the room. Uta could cut it with a knife. Completely out of the blue, Saya exploded. She had surprised him yet again as she charged over to his table and slammed her purse on the wooden surface, angrily rummaging for something in particular. A few seconds of searching later, the young woman extracted a wallet.

"If this is how you want it then fine, but I´ll pay for the mask like any regular customer would." She finally opened her wallet, disappointed by its poor contents.

"Do you take credit cards?" She asked but upon seeing his bemused expression she replied in his stead. "Of course you don´t." Not much to count on, she eventually took out the few dollar bills and change she had stuffed inside when an idea occurred to her. Her hand went to her ear to remove one of the earrings she had received for her birthday from Kishou and felt immense satisfaction placing it in front of Uta. The ghoul took it between his thumb and index finger, oddly inspecting it.

"That´s a real diamond, I guess it covers all costs," she proclaimed.

"Just one?"…

"It´s very unlikely I lose both of them, right?" She replied, the explanation she would have to give her brother about the missing pair evidently at the ready.

He placed the valuable jewel down intent on returning it when her voice faded into a whisper.

"I shouldn´t have come here." It was all a big mistake and the only thing she could do about it was just gaze at him. The more Saya looked at him, the more human and inhuman he appeared to her and yet she could not take her eyes off him. She then understood it was going to be the last time to see him and so she took in as much as she could from him, memorizing the shade of his hair, the way his shoulders were always leaned forward, his expression and his tone. It still wasn´t enough. And the worst part about it was that he did not seem to be as affected by their circumstances as deeply as she was.

Saya spared him any departing words and made her way to the exit as fast as she could, the heels she wore resonating loudly on her way out of the studio. Outside, bathed in daylight, Saya reorganized her thoughts, focusing on the little inner strength she had left. She hadn´t expected much but she hadn´t been prepared for less either. She glanced down at her mask, unsure about how to handle everything. The only thing for sure was that after the fund raise party would be over, she would take that mask and lock it away along with all her corrupted thoughts about him.

* * *

><p>"I can´t believe you followed me here! Did you really think I was going to tear her apart in plain daylight?" Nishiki demanded of Kaneki incredulously. Both men were crouched on the ground and watching the entrance to Uta´s Art shop from behind a corner. "You could have at least shared the cab fare."<p>

"I´m sorry, Nishiki-san but I was in such a hurry I forgot my wallet at the café," Kaneki apologized. "And you went out after her despite saying you wouldn´t. I couldn´t help but worry."

"Well anyone would be curious to investigate if seeing an Arima in the neighborhood," he said, justifying his actions. They followed her a while but after spotting her call for a cab, Nishki instinctively signed for their own and made the driver tail its yellow comrade. "And with good reason too! What is that woman doing in Uta´s studio?"

"I have no idea," Kaneki sincerely replied, concerned with Saya-san´s well-being. Did she know Uta? Did she even know what he was? Either way, matters were not going to end well judging by the murderous glare Touka send their way when she saw them leave the café unannounced. Blood-thirsty war was waiting for them back home and Kaneki was wondering who he should be more worried about, him or Saya-san. They witnessed her ascend the stairs to the main street and had been so concentrated on her actions that the sudden sneaky hand puncturing their shoulders caught them entirely by surprise.

Nishiki nearly jumped out of his own skin, reaction mirrored by Kaneki, both males turning to stare into the mischievous face of Itori.

"Damn it, Itori! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Itori-san…" Kaneki trailed off, his verbal instinct less offensive.

"What are you two doing here?" She asked suspiciously. "Are you out hunting humans?" Itori assumed, her excitement visible on her face as she squashed Nishiki´s forehead to lean in and get a better look at who they were watching. Her eyes fell on Saya but then moved on the mask she was holding in her hands before stuffing it in her purse and hailing for another cab and the female ghoul let out a shout of discovery. Panic conjured Nishki, his hands already at the redhead´s mouth, muffling down any other unnecessary sounds.

"Shut up, you stupid woman! Do you want her to hear you?"

She bit down on his hand, eliciting a scream from Nishki. "Don´t be silly, humans have such bad hearing. No offense, Kaneki."

"None taken," Kaneki reassured, confused by the exchange of insults and physical warnings.

"Aw, too bad, she´s leaving. I really wanted to talk to her," Itori whined, the three of them watching her mount in a cab.

Nishiki shoved her away from him, tired of supporting her weight on his shoulder. _This woman, always doing as she pleases_. "About what?"

"Many things. Uta tells me she´s lovely to be around. She´s his girlfriend, you know?" Itori winked to Kaneki whose expression was somewhere between shock and perplexity at the sound of that revelation. Nishiki, on a wiser note, withheld from jumping to the same conclusion.

"Do you even know what you´re saying? Don´t trust her, Kaneki. She likes to exaggerate."

"No need to worry, I´ll tell you alllllllll about it," Itori happily prepared the ground for a long recounting of Uta´s first meeting with Saya when her smile suddenly vanished. Nishiki sensed something was wrong at once and so turned to look in the direction Itori was now staring, Kaneki diligently following his example. There were three ghouls lurking around Uta´s studio, only two recognizable to Nishki. One was Hamasaki, the leader of a small resistance group that lived to terrorize everyone in District Five and the other, if he remembered correctly, was Yamada, Hamasaki´s right-hand man. As for the third one, neither Nishki nor Itori could pinpoint their identity yet, Hamasaki alone was enough to induce a state of alert among the ghouls at Kaneki´s side.

"What´s Hamasaki doing here?" Nishki asked, looking over to Itori.

"Nothing of praise."

For his own good, Kaneki decided to stay out of that one, not liking Itori´s implication any bit. That day could not get any stranger; he had just found out a colleague of his was the sister of their sworn enemy, that sister just stepped out of Uta´s crafting sanctuary and three other dangerous ghouls were sneaking around said ghoul´s working place, stirring up trouble. Would he ever catch a break, he wondered. Probably not.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello again, everyone! Did you see the latest (last?) episode of Tokyo Ghoul? Kaneki was epic *_*. I don´t actually follow the manga but I have been spoiled and since I have, I went ahead and read the ending and I was satisfied. I know a lot of people hate it but I think it was pretty realistic, sometimes life doesn´t give you what you want and good people are actually bad. I guess it was my kind of ending? XD Anyways, there were some things that surprised me but that are actually going to fit right in with this fanfiction so hope you´ll stick around to see exactly how. I´ll go back to properly reading the manga after I post this to make sure everything is well-arranged. By the way, as you have probably noticed, Saya meets Uta around the time Kaneki joins Anteiku and it all flows on from there.

Thank you so much for the follows and favorites, you guys! You are the best!

**For my reviewers:**

**pain1516:** Hello there and thank you for your support!^^ I´m glad you enjoyed the Uta and Itori bonding, they´re really funny together. And yes, that line was especially for him, this is just how I see this character. Polite but sooooo scary if you dare mess with him. He will continue appearing in the fic, he´s actually very crucial to the entire plot so hope that works for you!

**detrametal:** It´s so nice to see you again, thanks so much for posting another comment, this really encourages me :). To me, Kishou is a great character with plenty of potential. I loved him the second (literally the one second they showed him for in the entire anime -_-) I saw him. Itori is going to show up in other chapters as well and there will be lots of opportunities for her to be evil, heheh.

**Guest:** Believe me, I was happy to see you come back to this and read the newly posted chapter as well! Thank you for your praising words, I will do my best to entertain you with even more chapters so let me know you´re still here with me. Let´s keep rooting for those two!

**sherlaylay:** I´m glad you like this fanfiction and the way it started off. I usually update on Thursdays or on Fridays so I hope to see you here again. I really wanted to get into Uta´s head with this story and I´m starting to get the hang of it but the guy is just really enigmatic. XD

**Cyleana:** Aw, you dream anime? That´s so lucky, I never remember my dreams and when I do they´re about such boring things :(. But hey, it was fate to dream about Uta and stumble across my story and I´m really grateful you did! I also want to keep the story a bit realistic so I want them to have some trouble, real life is not that easy! Plus, a relationship like there is extremely forbidden which is why it´s so fun to write and the characters will have to work for it. See you next chapter?

**Kirschflower:** Thank you! Since the response to this story is so positive, I will certainly write more. Visit me again!

**SI:** You are quite right my dear reader, a lot of interesting pairings in the world of fanfiction yet I can only thank you for giving this one a shot even though Uta is not really a favorite. I hope to win you over with the plot, the unexpected twists and the character development so please stay tuned and let me know what you think from now on as well! :)

**VictoriaPie:** It´s not that easy keeping Uta in character since he doesn´t seem to have a stable, definite one but I´m working towards it. Saya is alright, not really strong since she´s always been protected by her family but Uta is exactly what she needs at the moment and the same goes for him. He needs a half-German beauty to mess up his priorities :)).

**Ethereal Wonders:** Hello and thank you! It´s a relief to hear you like Saya, OCs are such a pain to write, you have to know exactly what kind of person would fit in the story.

**Megohime of Mutsu:** Alas, the wait is over! Thank you for your love, I shall cherish is dearly! Please continue reading and letting me know your impressions, it´s very motivating for me.


	4. Hidden truth

**Disclaimer**:** **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4: Hidden truth<strong>

It was unusual for him to wallow in longing. He never gave anything or anyone a second thought once he had decided to extract them from his mind but it appeared Uta had a slight problem with repeating the process this time around. Minutes passed but his gaze remained locked on the glass stand that had previously protected the girl´s mask, subconsciously recalling how alive he felt just by having her near. It took someone like her to erase their identities of ghoul and human and render everything to the sole concept of a person interested in another person.

"She took you away," Uta whispered, himself unsure of whether he referred to the mask or the little self-control he had left whenever she was near. "I don´t even know which one of you I want more," he continued, his fingers lightly tracing on the cold surface of glass. An image flashed in his head of Saya preserved in a glass container, her eyes closed and serene and his forever, without any risk of losing one another. But if such were the case, her eyes would never light up at the sight of him nor treat him like any human man who could not hurt her in ways she could never imagine and that would be pointless. He liked her alive and breathing and above all, senselessly fascinated with him and he was imprudently beginning to resemble her. Such twisted hobbies did not truly suit him and pushing the image out of his head, quickly attributed it to someone more degenerate, like the Gourmet of the seventh district. If it were any other ghoul, Uta would have had matters figured out by now but with humans, you always had to be careful, specifically with that highly-educated girl whose entire demeanor was nothing less than prim and proper. He mentally congratulated himself for keeping his distance despite the impulsive notions that ran wildly through his head whenever she spoke to him. He did not know for sure but whether it was the way she looked at him, or the thrill of rapturing a human to that extent or even the vanity of corrupting Arima´s precious sister or better yet, all combined, Uta had a feeling the next time he would see her, he would not be able to refrain his intention of plunging at her invitation as smoothly as he did today. Her scent still lingered in his studio, giving off the impression she was still there, which was why when the entrance door opened again, Uta almost thought it was her. Hoping the disappointment was visible on his face enough to drive away the three men barging in uninvited, the mask crafter regarded the three intruders.

"Hey there, Uta-san! Long time no see," a brunette ghoul whom Uta recognized to be one going by the name of Yamada greeted in fake cheer. His interest shifted on the other two ghouls accompanying him, a bitter taste sneaking in his mouth as the sight of Hamasaki. That ghoul was nothing but trouble. He even considered ripping them to shreds to avoid Hamasaki´s dirty business being dragged in his studio but nevertheless, it seemed a little bit too late.

"Is there anything I can do for you, Hamasaki-san? A mask perhaps?" Uta suggested, careful to let him know that whatever dangerous affairs he had been involved earlier in his youth were now a matter of the past. Hamasaki grinned, taking a seat on Uta´s chair, his legs crossed in defiance.

"Yes, actually. A buddy of mine Subaru asked me to come get his mask," Hamasaki said, eyes glued on Uta and attentive for the slightest reaction. An expert at controlling his emotions, Uta gave the older ghoul no satisfaction, sounding as nonchalant as ever.

"I´m sorry to say this Hamasaki-san but Subaru-san retrieved his mask a few days ago. You have wasted your time for nothing."

"Is that so? Well we hadn´t heard from him in a while and my sources state this was the last place he visited before he disappeared. Care to share anything with us, Uta?"

"I have no idea what you´re talking about, Hamasaki-san. Maybe you should check with your sources again."

At his side, Susuyama grunted annoyed while Yamada shifted his weight from one leg to another, fed up with the pretending game. Hamasaki though, loved games and especially with entertaining opponents such as the ghoul in front of him. It was fun playing with _No Face_. He was aware of Uta´s brute strength and agility, having experienced some brawls with his group in the past and it was actually unexpected to see that cold-hearted savage resort to manipulation. He was more refined in his speech now, careful with what he gave away and reserved in attitude. Somehow, that expressionless face of his got on his nerves a lot more than any sign of overconfidence or smug assurance. They could spend the entire day beating around the bush, Hamasaki concluded, but time was of the essence and play hour was over.

"Let me put this clearly for you, No Face. We know you killed him. Whether it was to cannibalize him or because of his loud, rude mouth which I can honestly vouch for, either way, you caused me great trouble."

Uta raised his eyebrows, feigning affront.

"I did kill him but I did not eat him, I am hardly fond of ghoul flesh. However, I took him in the backroom, cut him into small pieces and sold him to desiring comrades. Acquired a good price on him too. May I interest you in a small percentage?"

"You bastard!"`The fat one snapped in rage, his kakugan activated. Hamasaki raised a hand to halt his underling, apparently not revolted by Uta´s confession. There was no need to ruin everything.

"No, thank you. It can´t be helped then."

"He was very impolite to one of my customers."

"Subaru was your customer too," Hamasaki reminded him.

"Not a very good one," Uta replied.

"Still, he was one of my men and his death changes some things. But don´t worry, we can fix this, I already thought of a solution," Hamasaki said, his grin expanding from one corner of his mouth to another, announcing his initial intention for visiting the studio. "Since you´re the one who inconvenienced us, you´ll just have to take his place."

Uta took a few moments to examine the three ghouls, the idea of getting rid of them on the spot sounding more appealing by the second. It wouldn´t even take long and for two of them, his kagune needn´t have to come out. Also in the examination process, Hamasaki took Uta´s silence as a queue to go on with his proposal.

"We´re planning to crash a party this end of the week but we need a driver on stand to help us with the getaway part of the operation. Subaru was our driver and you killed him, hence this is where your part begins."

But if he were to murder them he would increase the number of kills per month and that would ruin the pacifist role he had been trying to grow into since opening his mask studio. Who knew Subaru could be more problematic dead than alive? Uta pondered away while Hamasaki went on with his babbling.

"It´s nothing complicated, you just have to wait in the car and we´ll deal with the slaughter."

Ah, in the end he could claim self-defense, the ghouls would die in his studio after all but there was the question of reputation and an unsafe perimeter could possibly affect his business.

"And if you´re a nice boy," Yamada butted in, enthusiasm prickling at his skin, "we´ll save you a piece of Marude and Arima."

Uta´s chain of thoughts suddenly broke off.

"Arima?" Uta uselessly attempted to confirm.

"Oh? Is your interest piqued?" Hamasaki delivered as answer, not expecting for this arrangement to flow easier than scheduled.

"Let´s just say I have some unfinished business with Arima."

"Well, you´re in luck. The Arima family is the one organizing the fund raising for whatever noble cause they´re supporting and from what I heard, it´s a masquerade ball so we´ll fit right in," Hamasaki supplied, ignorant to the fact that Uta´s gaze was darkening from completely different reasons than the ones he assumed.

_Masquerade ball? Didn´t she say she had an event around this period? Is this the one she needs the mask for? _Uta questioned himself internally, a carousel of possibilities and outcomes spinning in his head. _That means she´ll be there._

"So are you in?" Yamada demanded.

"I don´t see why not," came Uta´s response, careful not to sound too ominous.

"Good. Here´s the key to the van, we parked it outside, Hamasaki said, placing a car key on the table, beside Uta´s brand new sketchbook. "We´ll call you later for the rest of the details," the ghoul informed standing to his feet. Before heading out, his paranoid self took the best of him. He scolded his expression into something more feral and warned Uta in a matching voice. "If you change your mind, you can say goodbye to this little craft shop of yours and more."

Hamasaki finally detached himself from Uta´s side and went to join his two men outside with slow, heavy footsteps. Instinctively, Uta grabbed the key and leaning on his desk, began twirling it between his fingers, thus bettering his concentration. Maybe he should not fret, her brother was going to be there to protect her and yet, with humans, you never knew; one wrong step and everything would be over. That was the main issue with humans, gentleness was required and once you got involved with one, everything around them became hazardous. It was a good chance to see her again though.

He threw the key in a drawer and sighing, returned to his sketching, kicking the Hamasaki infected chair out of his way. Maybe it was for the best, he did have to dispose of those bothersome ghouls and the location wouldn´t have to matter, Uta reasoned with the purpose of convincing himself he was not doing it for the sake of one human girl.

* * *

><p>A cold swift breeze fluttered the pages of Saya´s study book bringing it two chapters back from her initial read. She tsked and tried to flip the pages to the initial chapter, having trouble remembering which one it was. In the end she gave up and closed the book, pushing it to her left and bringing her sketch book closer, pen back to its drawing routine. She was supposed to study but the classroom was too loud and so she moved to the library but when even that proved to be too quiet, she opted for the outside benches in the university campus. Clearly, location was not the problem. She had too much on her mind and the only thing that could reorganize her thoughts had to be sketching. Doodling away dresses worked to ease her worries, for the first ten minutes at least, but after that, her demons invaded her brain, almost daring her to stop thinking about what had happened the previous day.<p>

Saya hadn´t been particularly unlucky when it came to dating. She had had her share of admirers and had experienced love but if truth be told, she had never expected such outward rejection. Ghouls were monsters, brutal, but that particular one hadn´t stricken her as heartless and she had hurried in her judgment of believing he would react like the rest of the male population, simply happy to profit from the attention of a young woman. As it turned out, that Uta person was immune to her charms, dismissing even the slightest of connections to her and who could blame him? She was a human with no sense of danger it seemed and if that wasn´t enough to spell disaster for whatever foolish delusion she had about the two of them, she was also a special investigator´s sister. For a second there, she regretted being related to Kishou and that never happened before, even in cases more drastic than the one at hand.

_Saya is top of her class in high school? Well that´s to be expected of Kishou´s sister._

_She can draw and play the violin? No wonder she´s related to Arima Kishou-san!_

_And what lovely manners, it absolutely runs in the family!_

All those whispers around her and she never once felt resentful towards her brother, in fact she felt grateful about it, downright proud to be Kishou´s little sister. But there came Uta and made her realize that her little world did not resume to humans only and that she could actually feel something towards someone she should never consider even in a million years. That man could be killing someone for lunch at that very moment and despite it, she was absorbed in her disappointment, in her bruised ego and especially in her spontaneous need to be near someone who could make her overlook his nature.

_Wake up, Saya! What is wrong with you? He eats people. He preys on them, tears them apart and eats them. But even so, he saved me, didn´t he?_

She grunted, realizing there was no winning with herself. She gave up on her sketchbook as well and stacking it on top of her other books, Saya intended to wrap everything up and go home when her instinct informed her someone was staring in her direction. Across the alley of trees, a young woman waved at her. Saya´s eyebrows furrowed, falling short of recognizing the person even as she got closer to her. Reaching the table, she sat down on the bench uninvited, her palms rising to support her chin.

"Hello," she said pleasantly.

"Hello," Saya responded, still on to the task of attributing a name to her face. The woman continued speaking in the same pleasant manner, fixing Saya with her piercing gaze, going beyond the norms of passive introduction. She voted for prudency, her upbringing in a family of investigators accounting for it.

"My name is Itori, I´m a friend of Uta´s."

If only her emotions could be that easily kept in check. Some surprise must have escaped on her face because she saw the other woman grin, as if expecting that particular reaction after adding the name ´Uta´ to the equation. Saya gulped down her anxiety, voicing out the first question that popped into her mind.

"Are you a…"

"Ghoul? Yep!" Itori gave the straight answer.

_As expected_, Saya thought. She regarded the woman carefully. The fact that she claimed to know Uta did not necessarily mean Saya was out of harm´s way which was why the girl chose to remain high-strung until the opposite would be proven.

"Can I help you, then?"

"Not per say. I actually came to see you, it´s not every day that Uta gets interested in a human girl."

"And?"

"I´m glad I came to look for you. Hey… wouldn´t you like to know more about Uta?"

"Yes, but not here," Saya responded quickly, distracted by the university students eyeing the both of them.

"I know somewhere we could go and talk in peace.

"Maybe I should choose the place," Saya ordered.

"Smart girl."

"What can I say? It runs in the family."

They walked in silence for a short while till they reached the placed designated by Itori. Despite her initial dismissal, Saya had allowed Itori to choose the place after having assured her they would board no trains nor strange cars and they would remain in the safety of the 20th district. They stopped in front of a café and before Itori had the chance to pull the door open, Saya took out her cellphone.

"Hello? Maya?" Saya addressed one of her maids at the other end. "Please tell me father and brother I´ll be late today, I´m currently in district 20 at a café called Anteiku. With a friend, yes. Thank you." She hung up afterwards, redirecting her attention towards Itori. "Just a measure of precaution, I´m sure you understand."

Itori simply smiled, opening the door for Saya to pass through and first-handedly take in the warm, welcoming atmosphere of the café shop. She inspected the place at her leisure, appreciating the wood accents and French style tables populating the floor. The glasses and tableware glistened in cleanliness, suitable for even the finest of taste. Moreover, the staff was sharply-attired, with matching vests and ties, conferring the shop the right amount of elegance. Her scrutiny came to an end as soon as she noticed a familiar face behind the counter.

"Ken-san!" Saya exclaimed. "I didn´t know you worked here."

"Ah, yes. It´s just a part-time job, though. A lot of things happened and I eventually joined Anteiku. Are you here for some coffee, Saya-san?" Kaneki asked, highly conscious of Itori being in Saya´s presence.

"That´s right," she answered while taking a seat in front of her companion. "I´ll let you chose my order. If your taste in coffee is the same as your taste in books then I will have no complaints," she praised. For herself, Itori ordered an espresso, no sugar, no milk.

"What is she doing here?" Touka asked no one in particular, Nishiki wondering the same thing.

A few minutes later, Kaneki materialized next to them with two cups of coffee. Preferring her coffee hot, Itori inhaled its freshly-ground aroma and took a sip. She was very enticing, that woman, Saya observed. Long, silky hair, down-casted eyes that perpetuated seduction, full lips and fingers that would fit just right in a lucky man´s hand. The words left her lips before she even had the chance to filter them:

"You´re more to Uta than just a friend, aren´t you?"

Itori blinked surprised, impressed by the other woman´s intuitive skills.

"If you had asked me this question years back, I would have said yes. Currently, it´s not the case, we´re just good friends. But don´t worry, to ghouls, relationships don´t mean as much as they do to humans."

Saya felt her hear sting with what she vehemently denied to be jealousy. In response, she placed her cup of coffee down, launching her own offensive.

"Is that why you asked me to come here with you? So that you can tell me not to expect much from him?"

"Just friendly advice. Uta is my friend and he got involved with a very troublesome human woman. It´s my duty to protect him."

"Protect him? From me?"

"You know what I mean. He´s risked a lot just by letting you in his studio. "

"As I have by returning to it."

"Through your own volition and exposing him to more danger. It´s only fair of me to verify your intentions."

"I thought we were supposed to talk about him not me."

"Ara, we´re talking about the both of you, aren´t we?"

"Itori-san. What is it that you want from me?"

She had enough of the cat and mouse game.

"To thread carefully."

That last line had planted Saya even further in the maze. It was difficult reading between the lines of someone who up till now had delivered each sentence in a jovial manner just to conclude the serious aspect of their conversation in that one instruction.

"It doesn´t matter anymore," Saya spoke. He had made it clear they were not to meet again and as it appeared to be, the redhead hadn´t been informed of that yet or else they wouldn´t be having that conversation.

Despite her burning interest, Itori decided not to pursue the issue anymore. She focused on ordinary topics namely hobbies and food until the conversation escalated to more challenging matters such as life plans, secrets and childhood memories. The redhead had just finished giggling about a story Saya told her about how her father had come to pick her up even on the last day of high school, his over-protective character surging through her pleas of ceasing with embarrassing her when Kaneki drew near them, intent on clearing the table.

"Even a ghoul like me can relate to having family members embarrass you," Itori said, watching Saya look in Kaneki´s direction uneasily.

"Don´t worry, don´t worry, Kaneki-kun is a ghoul as well," Itori revealed in a good mood. Kaneki paralyzed with the tray in his hands, the other ghouls behind him halting their actions and glancing to Saya who looked as if she couldn´t digest the words well.

"Excuse-me, what did you say?" Saya´s voice sounded strangled, foreign even to her own ears. She could sense the young man holding his breath besides her, betraying the truth of his nature and, in that moment, she hated Itori for crumbling her safe place. If possible, she wished to turn back time and erase the knowledge of that truth but life persisted in striking her down once more, Itori´s words amounting to the perfect accompanying lullaby.

"Oh, you didn´t know…" the redhead trailed off, her body language expressing no remorse. "Maybe I should get going, we talked enough for today. It was nice meeting you, Saya.," Itori chanted halfway through the exit. Silence loomed for a while in the café, neither soul daring to take the first step in dispelling the trance. Footsteps reverberated on the wooden floor as Touka and Nishiki got closer to the café manager, both preparing for the worse. Only Yoshimura remained serene, almost anticipating the reactions of the one who now held their life in her hands and vice versa. He had been attentive to Saya and Itori´s conversation and had noted the small details concerning the young Arima, details that spoke loudly of her prudence. Unwilling to put up with the lack of participation anymore, Saya addressed Kaneki.

"Have a seat, Kaneki-san."

Kaneki flinched, panic clawing its way up to his heart. Upon waking up that morning, Kaneki would have never imagined his ghoul identity to be revealed to a human, nevertheless one as critical as Saya. He gulped down his anxiety, doing his best at delivering a steady reply.

"I´m sorry, Saya-san, waiters aren´t allowed to sit with customers."

"Please."

How authoritarian her voice sounded, in all its gentleness and femininity. She did have that talent of bringing an entire room to awareness, mainly when she read book fragments during their common classes together, Kaneki could recall it precisely. Saya had a certain way in which she emphasized specific words that convinced Kaneki she read literature with the utmost depth and esteem - facts which could prove blissful in a conversation with a fellow bibliophile. In that tête-à-tête they were as of now engaging, Kaneki was not so certain he would grace her with the same privilege. He had to at least try.

"Saya-san, I…"

"It´s Arima-san," she corrected him, making Kaneki realized she had dropped the familiar use of his first name in favor of his last one. She elected distance as a shield against him and he felt he deserved it completely.

"Yes," Kaneki agreed, unable to bring himself to look Saya in the eye.

Various matters broke Saya´s heart. Just minutes ago she was wondering about what dress to wear for the event tomorrow or struggling to get over her insignificant affection for Uta when pressing issued were converging into tragedies. She felt cheated and betrayed by everyone around her. What certainty could she have about the next person she would meet on the street? Human? Ghoul? She had none. She almost felt sorry for Kaneki, the boy appeared to take the truth harder than she did when in reality, it had to be the other way around but at the same time, she remembered he was a ghoul and therefore not to be attributed with human emotions if she were to trust Itori. In an act of self-preservation, Saya draped her arms around her protectively, holding on to the last shred of courage she had left.

"I did not expect you to inform me about yourself since we are not really friends but…we´re not exactly strangers either," she began. "I can´t help wonder…did you enjoy pretending to be human with me, Kaneki-kun? Did you ever imagine dragging me to the far end of the library and eating my heart out?"

Kaneki´s head snapped upwards at once, his eyes searching for hers, dismayed, afraid.

"Arima-san, I beg you, I would never. I was born human, Arima-san. I became a ghoul not long ago, someone did this to me!"

She frowned, confused. In his frenzy, Kaneki sounded disoriented.

"Why would anyone do this to you?"

She clearly did not believe him nor comprehend the process needed for such a transformation to occur, Kaneki understood. It would take a completely different perspective for someone to experience what he was going through and her reticence was to be expected.

"You have to believe me, Arima-san. It has been terrible for me since the first day I became a ghoul. You have to trust me when I say that I would never hurt anyone."

"But you do eat human flesh, don´t you?"

The question caught him by surprise but he refused to surrender to his helplessness considering he had come face to face with the truth.

"I do. But here at Anteiku, we never kill anyone for it, we just gather scrapes from people who are already dead."

"Here at Anteiku?" She confirmed, connecting the dots. She glanced at the three people behind the bar, her gaze still on them as she asked Kaneki. "Are they all the same as you?"

It was far too late to fix that blunder. Kani turned an apologetic look to the other café staff, leaving the silent answer to float in the air.

"Do you know why I liked talking to you, Kaneki-san? It´s because I saw something in your eyes that reminded me of myself. I used to think we were both silent children who are weak to their family´s influence on themselves and who prefer to live in the fictional world of books than drag our feet in this unfulfilling one. You used to stare blankly at nothing in particular and so do I and I thought we could both leave behind our masks and be sincere in those 10 minutes we had at our disposal right before class started. Now….I don´t know, I´m still hanging on to something because I would hate to find out I´m such a bad judge of character."

"Arima-san…"

"Let it sink in for a while, won´t you?" She solicited in regards to the grim disclosure, to their camaraderie, to everything, really. He gave up on trying to offer reasons, considering it all too late when seeing her rise from her chair. She placed the required sum of yen on the table for her coffee and turned to face the shop manager and his two employees.

"I will trust in Kaneki-san´s words a bit more and shall consider this place inoffensive for his sake, however, if word reaches me stating otherwise, I will let the right people know."

Despite the intimidating glare she received from Touka, the following words, she delivered to Yoshimura. "For the moment, I won´t say anything, you have my assurance. I am not that desperate to impress my brother."

Not a second later after her departure, Touka urged the manager to give orders. Something had to be done about the Arima, their secret had been uncovered at the highest of prices.

"Manager…"

"It´s alright, Touka-chan. Arima-san wouldn´t lie about something like this."

"But Manager…"

"She has a friend here and also a soft spot for Uta and we all know no woman would inconvenience the man she is interested in with anything. Isn´t that so, Touka-chan?" The café manager smiled mischievously, glancing down at the share of dishes Touka had been cleaning earlier which, in fact, belonged to Kaneki. He was satisfied to see the female ghoul suppress a blush, covering it up with her trademark frown. With Touka´s worries put to rest for now, Yoshimura was left with Nishiki. The young man had remained silent for the most part, probably contemplating about Itori´s motivation of blowing everyone´s cover. Yoshimura thought about it as well, concluding that her intention was that of testing the Arima sibling, bargaining with lives that did not belong to her. Especially with Kaneki´s. The boy looked at a loss, slowly shrinking in his chair and drowning in a powerless state.

And drowning was the accurate sensation. He kept imagining Hide in Saya´s position only to come to the realization that he wouldn´t be able to recover from the idea of being abandoned by his childhood friend. Hide had always been there for him and had personally pulled Kaneki out from the black hole he crawled into when forgetting he was not alone in this world. Would Hide stare at him in disbelief, would he hate him, would he act cold or be afraid of him? Would he stop being Kaneki Ken the human and become Kaneki Ken the monster in his eyes? Just the mere thought of it had him bite his lips till drawing blood, his heart churning in suffering. He had to be more careful from now on. Hide never had to find out about him or else what was left human of Kaneki Ken him would disappear forever.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello again guys, chapter 4 is here! Sorry for the delay, life caught up with me! Things are getting fired up finally and we´re going to have the party in the next chapter.

Thank you to all who have followed and added my fanfiction to your favorites, I´m really lucky to have your support.^^

**Special thanks to my lovely reviewers:**

**Cyleana:** Hi there! As always thank you for your kind words! I´m glad to know everyone is in character, that´s my main challenge and requirement, I guess. You can´t be 100% accurate though because writing requires more character development and an incursion in the character´s mind but I´m getting there. I simply had to add Kaneki, he´s so lovable and also has a role in this fanfiction which will be revealed later so stick around. Do start on your own story, I would certainly read it *wink.

**Megohime of Mutsu:** That's because you were meant to be noticed, my dear! How do you like this chapter, let me know? Uta can really be a jerk somehow, whether he means/realizes it or not but how else would his character be so much of an enigma? To tell you the truth, I don´t like reading stories about two people only, characters are connected with their own friends/family members and have their own circumstances which is why I´m writing the fanfic in this way as well. Some people might not appreciate it and might feel like it drags but I´m holding out hope! Thank you and may I see you around here again.

**Kirschflower:** Another familiar name, thank you so much for taking the time to review! It gives me great joy to know this insignificant story is making people happy, truly! Thank you for liking Saya, I am on a mission to keep her grounded and developing on the same level as the manga so stay with me. :)

**Pheles-sama:** Thank you for stopping by again, I missed you in my second chapter :)). I have lots of fun writing the Arimas, they´re my favorite currently. Well, them and someone else who will make their appearance in the following chapters soon. This is just how I would see the environment of Kishou´s family. There was not a Saya-Uta scene in this chapter but there will be on in the next, I´m sure everyone can guess that. XD

**AznPuffyHair:** He can really rip people apart, that scene in the manga was gruesome! :)) Gotta love anime characters who don´t even have to try! And well said about Arima, he´s a ghoul in a sense as well, isn´t he? He´s just very efficient and good at what he does which is why I wanted to go deeper in his past and try to dig up what makes him the person he is today. After reading the manga, I realized everything is perfect for what I have in mind and will fall into place as chapters progress. Thanks for the encouragement and hope to see you here once more!

**Chiharu-angel:** Thank you very much! Please return for my next chapters as well and drop a line or two!

**Guest:** Merci beaucoup! Uta and Saya have a difficult relationship but it´s no fun if it´s a fairytale. If I think about it really well, I would be terrified of him and never go back there again but that´s just me, I´m usually a coward and I want to live, thank you very much! However, she is in love (or retarded) so she can make the sacrifice. Here´s some more Kaneki just for you. :)

**sherlaylay:** Thank you so much for adding me to your agenda and taking your time to write a review, it´s lovely, as always! She had to slam her purse, she´s the little princess of the Arima clan, it was a shock for her to be rejected but I had a blast :)). It´s fun torturing the characters. See you next chapter!

**ToukyoKushu:** Well, I love being stalked by reviewers! :D Thanks for your dedication and I hope this new chapter is to your liking. Take care!

**Flatwaffles29:** Hello and thank you for the review! Fufufufu, you read the manga, haven´t you? It´s alright, we´ll just have to see what and how exactly Uta will chose.

**gOthiCkUrOcHo69:** I very much appreciate it, thank you!^^ Let´s spread the Uta love! (Even though there´s so much hate lately).

**MuffinLord13:** The wait is over, here´s the fourth chapter! Thank you for your love. :)

**splitice:** I did read the manga, I wasn´t disappointed. I finally read something that did not cater to overused expectations and instead gave me a good old taste of reality. As for what I think you´re referring to, Uta treats people differently as it commonly happens with everyone. The way I act towards a friend is completely different from the way I treat a boyfriend, for example. There will always be exceptions. For anyone. Thank you for stopping by! :)

**hanae-croix:** Thank you, here´s the latest chapter! See you again!^^


	5. Behind the mask

**Disclaimer**:** **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5: Behind the mask<strong>

A white van pulled in front of the Shibuya Excel Tokyo venue at exactly 9 pm. It slowed down enough for the people on board to register the place and then proceed to go round the building and park closely to the backdoor entrance. Uta turned off the engine and waited for Hamasaki to launch orders. In the seat next to his, Hamasaki checked his watch, pleased to see everything was flowing according to plan. All the guests should have been inside by now, lavishing in overpriced food and fine drinks, clueless about the massacre Hamasaki had in mind for them. Expensive cars were stationed in front of the hotel venue, attesting the high number of people participating to the fund raising event while music was making its volume known through the liberty of open terraces and mobile doors ready to receive even more attendants to the soon-to-be dramatic night. In the backseat, Susuyama and Yamada were growing impatient, tugging at their itchy ties in frustration.

"Darn clothes!" Yamada cursed, finally figuring out how to create an acceptable knot. "I hate wearing suits!"

"Me too," Susuyama joined in. "They make me feel… trapped…you know?"

"Quit your yapping, I´m not exactly having a ball either, " their boss barked, his shoulders twitching uncontrollably in the confinement of his sack coat. Suits would make it difficult to move but, they were necessary. "It´s a formal event and we´ll raise suspicions if we show up dressed like we usually do. Just remember, our goal is to kill off as many doves as we can, don´t get distracted by anything else, I don´t want to have to deal with small fry while the big birds save enough time to regroup and catch us by surprise. It´s us who´ll raise hell, got it?"

"Ño problem, Boss," Yamada said obediently. In contrast, Susuyama begged to differ.

"Why isn´t he wearing a suit?" The ghoul asked in regards to Uta´s casual attire.

"Because he´s here to drive the van, he´s not going in," Hamasaki said, still very baffled by his underling´s stupidity and emphasizing the words as one would do for someone with hearing impediments. "Don´t forget to put on your masks, we don´t want to be recognized. Is everyone ready?"

Instead of reply, the two ghouls grabbed their masks and got out of the car, adrenaline pumping in anticipation. Before getting off, Hamasaki focused on Uta, intent on revising their escape plan.

"We´ll try to make it quick so you won´t get too bored, sweetheart," Hamasaki mocked, secretly satisfied to see Uta at his beck and call. He had almost expected him to bail out on them and had to admit that he was a bit impressed to see the mask crafter come pick them up at the appointed spot as established. He must have really hated the Arimas if he went that far to see them crumble. "Yamada will give you the signal to restart the engine when we´re ready to run so make sure you keep your cellphone turned on. Be prepared to drive at full speed. Do you understand?"

"Completely," Uta replied.

"We need you here more, No Face. Don´t worry, I´ll personally take care of Arima. You´ll be avenged," Hamasaki promised and took his leave as well.

Really, that girl was too much trouble. Eventually, Uta got out of the car despite Hamasaki´s strict instructions and inspected the area. It was unnaturally quiet. No guards posted at the doors, no security. He heard no rustles on the other side, his suspicion arousing. If he was going to enter the building, he was going to find another way in, preferably one that did not contradict his instincts to such lengths.

* * *

><p>Saya checked her dress for the last time in the golden mirror of the hotel room, added a few drops of perfume on her wrists and donning on the accursed mask, she finally made her way down the staircase, into the hall of the event. She was sleep deprived and had her head in the clouds due to the secrets revealed yesterday and therefore grateful she had something to wear on her face to hide her exhaustion. The main goal for the evening was to put everything aside and just enjoy a delightful night. With that conviction in mind, she flashed a forced smile on her lips as soon as her father and brother came into view. They both wore clean-cut suits and black masks, Kishou´s in particular covering only half of his face, luckily for the young ladies who had been invited to the event. Saya had indeed inherited their mother´s beauty but Kishou was not unfortunate in that department either. His traits, Japanese and linear, were amplified by a certain foreign flair which distinguished Kishou from thousands and blessed him with a handsome face and an imposing height. Even in that sea of masks and attires, colorful and striking to the eye, Kishou reigned in the entire amplitude of the hall.<p>

"There she is, my beautiful daughter!" Daichi exclaimed as he pulled Saya close to take a better look at her. He placed an affectionate hand on her cheek, pride plastered all across his face. "This mask is exquisite, Saya. Where on earth did you acquire it?"

"A local store, it´s nothing special," his daughter told him, keen on extinguishing the subject from its first flame. She did establish to keep troublesome thoughts away from her that night, she didn´t need to be remembered of specific individuals. At one point, she considered not wearing the mask at all but since it would stay on her face she wouldn´t have to see it anyways.

"You look lovely," Kishou complimented.

"Thank you. You look good yourself," Saya hurried to add in order to hide her embarrassment. Her brother rarely complimented her and whenever he did, she always felt out of place, as if she didn´t really deserve the praise despite craving for it once in a while.

"Well come along, let´s mingle with the guests," Daichi prompted, leading the way through the mass of people chatting with old friends, tasting the food or even gazing admirably at the music orchestra compiled especially for that event. Along with her family members, Saya offered her greetings and thanked the guests for accepting their invitation. Their final stop had been at Marude Itsuki and Amon Koutaru´s side, the latter trying to fit in with the aristocratic assemblage of Tokyo. Their masks had been discarded somewhere on a table, not entirely used to covering their faces for entertaining purposes. Upon spotting the Arimas, Amon´s face relaxed, a wave of relief invading his whole being. Marude, on the other hand, grabbed another glass of champagne from a waiter´s tray gulping down the liquid in one go.

"Arima-san! Thank you so much for inviting me to this party! I don´t go out much, you know?" Marude thanked Daichi, bowing to all three members of the family, Amon following his example impeccably. Daichi tapped Marude´s shoulder in a friendly gesture, trying to ignore the multitude of appetizers in the man´s hand and realizing that was probably the reason why he failed to be on people´s invitation lists that much.

"Don´t need to thank me, Marude-san, you´re just lucky you weren´t on duty tonight," Arima senior said jokingly, wishing the rest of the investigators could have also attended but instead remained stuck at headquarters or were on ghoul-hunting missions.

"I can´t tell you how happy I am I decided to come here. You were a good soldier, Arima-san but you also know how to live. Your father is a wise man, Kishou-kun. You better learn from him."

"Of course, Marude-san. We must always listen to our elders," Kishou agreed on reflex, knowing best which buttons not to push with his fellow colleague.

"Kishou´s learning well," Daichi said, honored by his son´s each and every action. He had been outgrown by his son in all aspects a long time ago, his heart at ease with the thought of leaving his family in capable hands. "He even invited a few novices tonight as a reward for their excellent results in training," the older man informed, causing Marude to look behind Kishou and see there had been three people behind him all along, all cladded in black suits. Two young men and a girl, their faces, familiar, from the last time he had visited the Academy. If he remembered correctly, those three were going to be appointed to a division soon, promising efficiency and fast development in the hierarchy of inspectors.

Saya had noticed them following them around but had said nothing; Kishou appointed bodyguards for their protection when the case was needed. The girl mainly caught Saya´s attention, the way her eyes rested glued on Kishou amusing her to no end. Not surprising, Kishou had captivated yet another woman and pretended not to notice it. In a way, it was better to keep a distance, new inspectors were at risk of ending dead when first starting off their job as ghoul hunters. Her grin faded at the prospect of that outcome, understanding once again that not everyone was as lucky to have a prodigy relative by their side who could survive even the worst of ghoul attacks. Next to her, Amon coughed, subtly drawing her attention.

"Miss Arima, it´s nice to see you again. Are you enjoying the party?" he said, bowing his head in respect, earning himself the same courtesy from her. She had seen Amon Koutaru only once before, around the time he joined investigator Mado Kureo as his new partner and that first time, he had been just as solemn as he was now.

"Likewise," she said. "And I am, I´m quite used to them. But you don´t really like these types of gatherings, do you, Amon-san?"

"Ah, I´m always uncomfortable and they make me feel inappropriate," he tried to find the best answer.

"I know what you mean. Father disliked them at first as well but you see, my mother loved events and involved herself in many charity funds so eventually, he came to accept them and continued organizing them even after her death."

"He must have loved her very much," Amon voiced out, sensing her lingering melancholy.

"He did," she simply stated. Whenever she thought about Adelisa, she always missed her deeply. When she was alive she felt her mother had hung the moon, that she was invincible and death would never touch her. When fate took her away from them, Saya hadn´t come out of her mother´s closet for days. She had buried herself in her dresses, sullying them with her continuously pouring tears and vowing to never go against her teachings for as long as she would live. It took her father and brother days of pleading for her to come out but even when she did, she was never to be the same again. She would make sure to inconvenience no one and would support her last remaining family members as best as she could.

"You don´t need to force yourself, Amon-san, not everyone is made to like these types of events. I can tell you´re an earnest man and you would rather be at your desk right now, devising strategies for your work."

Amon´s eyes widened in astonishment. It was as if she had read his mind. He was about to let her know how well she had comprehended him when Saya revealed she was not done talking.

"But it´s not healthy to engross yourself in work only. You need to detach yourself from it and remember how to live in harmony with other people as well," she advised, looking over to her brother whom she wished would be by their side more and not only physically. How strange, Mado had said the same thing on the day he became his partner. Humans should stay with humans and ghouls with ghouls. Saya´s unannounced wisdom weighted on him, awakening lost thoughts about his father and the dark scenes he had witnessed as a child. Instantaneously, Amon erased his image from his mind, focusing on Mado instead. Amon had been lucky and unlucky in his experience with father-figures but it went without saying, both instances had had quite the impact on his evolution as a person. He felt sadness invade him, terribly missing a conversation with his mentor, Amon´s head heavy and heart as stone at imagining how hard it would be for him to get over Mado´s death, if that was even possible. Mado would agree with Saya´s words and at the same time would not attend this party but be off on some ghoul-hunt at the other side of the city.

"You´re absolutely right, miss Arima. Next time, I shall take your words in consideration," Amon said, letting Saya know he was going to retire for the night. He bowed to her once more, respectful eyes basking her form and then proceeded to voice his goodbyes to the rest of the inspectors. As expected, her father showed sincere regret at his departure and offered to accompany him to the door along with Kishou thus, leaving Saya in the presence of Marude and the three trainees that had been brought along.

"It´s a pity Amon-san couldn´t stay longer," Saya said conversationally.

"It can´t be helped," Marude began explaining. "After all, Mado´s death hit him pretty hard, it´s going to take a while before he gets back to his feet. Stupid man," Marude proclaimed and Saya intuited correctly that he was talking about the recently deceased investigator, "that´s what you get for developing an obsession for quinques, you forget how to hone your other survival skills. Heard that, newbies?" Marude whirled on his feet to fix the three youngsters behind him with all the intensity he could muster. "You must never preoccupy yourselves exclusively with quinques."

"Yes, sir!" The girl investigator-to-be retorted while one of the young men rolled his eyes and the other mumbled a grumpy "Why not?"

"Because it´s unhealthy, that´s why!" He barked at them, annoyed for having his reasons questioned. He suddenly remembered he was still in the company of Saya and adopting a softer tone, slipped out of his commander skin.

"There are better hobbies out there, for example vehicles! I, for one, love cars. I don´t have a large number of items in my collection but the few that I have are really precious to me," Marude said, turning an excited look on Saya. She had the vague feeling that once he started with that subject there would be nothing in the world to make him stop and when he started round two of his chatter , Saya contemplated finding the most mannerly way of excusing herself and searching for someone else to socialize with. "I have this red Porsche I bought after years of saving and this vintage motorcycle that I have restored on my own, a real beauty, I tell you," he praised, causing one of the young boys behind him to snort impatiently.

"I don´t think Arima-san is interested in your _healthy_ hobby, Marude-san."

"Be quiet soldier, no one´s asking you anything!" The inspector reprimanded. And then gently to Saya,"Do you dislike cars, Arima-san?"

_I´m pretty indifferent to them_, Saya thought, preparing a safer reply for her brother´s colleague.

"I can´t say I dislike them only that I´m not very knowledgeable in this area," she truthfully argued. "But I do understand your passion, cars are like an extension of yourself."

"The only good thing about him, more likely," the talkative boy whispered in vain for Marude heard him loud and clear. On that account, the older man turned to them again, whacking the impudent trainee over the head.

"Watch it, Fukui-kun," Marude warned through gritted teeth. "One more word and I´ll have you spend your weekend polishing my vehicles."

"Ugh, no thanks."

"As if I´d let an insolent brat like you touch my babies." The last line elicited a snicker from the girl and a full-on laughter from the other male trainee which Saya graciously joined. In all the years she had known him, Marude never remembered that whenever they met, he always talked to her about cars. In fact, the little information she had about vehicles had come from said inspector, his never-ending passion for the steel wonders, incessant and loyal. Nothing out of the ordinary there. They all had their perks and she was aware of them. All her life she had met inspectors and soldiers, her father having her come to his work place often and their small gatherings always comprised of members of the CCG branch. Saya had grown in this environment to such extent, she could even call it her second family and it was that same family she was betraying by withholding information that might be saving other people´s lives. Kaneki said that they were not hurting anyone but how could she trust him entirely? She thought she knew Kaneki and as it turned out, she did not know him at all. Her eyes searched for her father and brother instinctively, locating them near the exit where they had escorted Amon earlier, the aforementioned nowhere to be seen anymore. Taking advantage of Marude being distracted and the new batch of guests heading their way, Saya separated herself from the group and headed in her family´s direction.

At the polar opposite of the room, Daichi and Kishou supervised the hall, their breathing calm and in unison, much like most of their thoughts. Most, not all.

"Quite a nice a fellow that Amon-kun. He would make a great match for Saya, don´t you think?"

Kishou took a few moments to consider. He was not like his father, always ready to judge people superficially. To Arima Kishou, first impressions did not matter much because in the end, people had to be discovered and rediscovered. Indeed, at an initial observation, Amon Koutaru had proven out to be excellent and in the future would most likely achieve his full potential as an investigator yet as a husband, for his sister in particular, matters were not that evident. He had followed that man´s progress and had witnessed him at his worst through reports of his last mission with investigator Mado and had understood how exactly that affected him.

"Amon Koutaru is promising, I cannot deny. A valuable asset for CCG," Kishou deliberated. "On the other hand, he is emotional, fixated on the wrong goal and not selfish enough to hang on tightly to what belongs to him. For Saya, we do not need someone who is enamored with their work but who is willing to stake their life to ensure her survival, no matter the costs. For such a man, Saya´s life will always have to be top priority."

Arima senior blinked his eyes curiously, wondering how it had become possible for his son to categorize someone as efficiently as proven. He clearly hadn´t thought of matters that far ahead; to him, it had counted only the fact that Amon was kind and hard-working, traits he would really like to see in someone suited for his daughter but his son was of different opinion and with good reason. Saya was never to be a sacrificial pawn, under no circumstances.

"Well, we´re also taking out Amon-kun from the list then," Daichi noted, disappointment echoing from within his sentence. "Next time, you suggest someone."

"I will," Kishou agreed, surprising his father for the second time that evening. He hadn´t been serious when he proposed that to his son but from his tone, it seemed Kishou might have someone in mind for the position. He was about to inquire who it was but missed his opportunity when his son excused himself to attend to something unspecified. Saya had also materialized by his side, two glasses of champagne in her hand. She handed one to her father and kept one for herself.

"Shall we toast for a wonderful night?" She asked, tilting her glass, awaiting confirmation.

"For that and for how lovely my precious daughter is." He clinked the glass on her own, watching her remove her mask to reward him with a beam. For a moment there, he thought he saw Adelisa. Only for a moment.

* * *

><p>Five minutes into the building and Hamasaki felt something was wrong. There was no security, no human in sight to hinder their advancement towards the event hall and that made him restless. But he kept it concealed, not wishing to worry his comrades even though they themselves could probably understand the situation they were in.<p>

"Where do we go now, Boss?" Susuyama did his best to whisper.

"Shh, this way," Hamasaki instructed, finally on to something. He could hear heartbeats, voices and music, feel the warmth of tender bodies gliding past each other and whiff the unmistakable aroma of human flesh. He hurried in his steps, his men close behind him. They were almost there, he could sense it. It did not matter there were no guards anymore, they were either too stupid or too confident. That last option challenged Hamasaki´s nerves but he calmed down by imagining how wonderful CCG meat would taste in his mouth. At last reaching the door from where the loud hustle originated, Hamasaki barged right in. Inside, everything was dim and clearly no party unfolding. All of a sudden, the lights were turned on and Hamasaki locked his gaze on the people sitting at the center of the empty room. At his side, his men were disoriented, failing to understand what was going on. There was no one in the room despite having heard voices and music earlier, no one apart from Arima Kishou and three younger humans framing him on each of his side. Arima took out a remote control from his pocket and pressing a button, muted the conglomeration of sounds, proving it had all been a recording.

"You bastard!" Hamasaki roared, balling his fists tightly. It had been a trap, a well-devised game to lure them in and they had fallen for it. He couldn´t understand it initially, the heartbeats were there, the real voices and scents had also been there all along, except they were in another hall. Without a doubt, Arima had anticipated their arrival and had outdone himself by staging that little scheme to confuse them and mess with their senses. Little by little, his underlings were becoming aware of the flaw in their plan. Yamada especially, loathed the sole idea of having to die here while humans were enjoying themselves ignorantly in the adjoined space. It was high time he encouraged his men regardless of how bothered he felt inside just by staring into the cold eyes of Arima.

"Stand your ground, men. We´re going to dismember them!"

Eternally composed, Arima ignored the ghoul´s declaration, opting to address his own team instead.

"As promised, you are to experience first-hand combat with ghouls using quinques as compensation for your excellent training results. Keep in mind this is an exception and you will not have access to a quinque again until the day you graduate. Use them wisely," Arima advised his pupils. They all nodded, excited beyond measure to be in the possession of a case. They gripped the handle of each of their quinque container, awaiting permission from the Special Unit investigator. That was precisely what they trained for; when Arima promised them the chance of using a weapon designated only to inspectors, the three of them understood the privilege they were given and as a result, upgraded their skills to ensure fulfilling their collective dream. Arima addressed the male trainees first.

"You take the one on the right and Fukui the one on the left. As for Hamasaki," Arima emphasized the grim name familiar to the entire CCG unit and pointing out that a mere mask could not keep his identity safe from him, "Matsumoto will apprehend him and I will assist in the elimination process. Begin."

That last one word was enough to cause havoc. The three charged at the ghouls almost instantaneously, Matsumoto included, unsuccessful in waiting for Arima to join her in her share of the mission. She would not be undermined, female and all, she had the same training as her male comrades and would prove her worth on her own and perhaps this way, Arima would notice her as a person and not only as a soldier. The cases opened and weapons took shape in their hands, menacing and destructive.

Hamasaki was still trying to figure out how it all happened. To his right, Susuyama had been flatted to the ground, his chest pierced by what looked like a sword quinque, blood gushing out and life draining slowly away from him while to his left, Yamada had been immobilized as well, his own demise drawing near at a fraction of second. He briefly considered aiding his right-hand man, Yamada had been more than just a loyal follower, he had been a friend but misery descended on himself too when the girl of the group targeted his head. He dodged, easily staying out of her quinque´s way, her incessant attacks causing him more frustration than distress. Not one moment to spare, Hamasaki released his kagune hoping that its sight would intimidate the girl. Lamentably, it had quite the opposite effect and the girl charged at him again, this time making her the perfect target for the projection of his kagune. If he calculated approximately, it would tear that rebel arm of hers that kept swinging the quinque a bit too eagerly, however, there was still Arima he had to take into account.

_Lucky wench_, Hamasaki whined, seeing his plan of cutting her apart shattered as Arima blocked his attack with Ixa, his well-known quinque. He was pushed back, wobbling on his feet, glaring at the two like a wild beast in a cage. From the place she had tripped and fallen down, Matsumoto looked up at Arima, grateful for his intervention. Was he angry? He did not show it, but then again, she never really saw him angry. In fact, on the battlefield, Arima´s expression was always that of concentration and idle sorrow, as if rather not terminate life in favor of other but determined to do it anyways, giving he was the most efficient at it. He spoke, his back still turned at her.

"I extended help to you not because of difference in gender but because of difference in strength. Hamasaki is not an opponent you can defeat by yourself, Matsumoto."

His words stung, despite sounding reasonable to her ears. She lowered her head in shame, disappointed in herself for having inconvenienced him. She only wanted to help, to prove herself but all she achieved was getting in his way. Matsumoto stood up again, set on compensating her error with a sure hit and unknowingly made the same mistake all over again by charging without awaiting further orders. She thought that she would be able to land a hit while Hamasaki was busy watching out for Arima, and yet the ghoul outsmarted everyone by going after the weak link again, his kagune wrapping around her fragile body crushingly and sending her flying towards Arima. The investigator´s first instinct was that of going after the ghoul, nevertheless, the reasonable part of him had won over and thus focused on catching the girl, the impact sending them both crashing into the opposite wall. Satisfied to see his strategy work, Hamasaki took advantage of the incapacitated Arima and made a run for it through the same door he entered. Ignoring the physical pain in his spine, Arima got to his feet, but not before resting an injured Matsumoto on the floor, instructing her not to move. In between attacks she had dislocated a shoulder, Arima could feel it limp against his chest when propping her up to sit. He glanced at her but she avoided his look, guilty for the failure of the operation. If it were any other inspector, Arima would have left them fend for themselves but that girl was still a student, a trainee he had brought that night for a special lesson and as his responsibility, he had to put her safety before the elimination of that Hamasaki pest. When he made the selection of the three, Arima had not calculated such sloppiness from Matsumoto´s part. She was not the hot-blooded type, quite the contrary, she always monitored her moves and proved to be obedient in every aspect yet just now she acted like a completely different person. What was she trying to prove, exactly? For that, he would have to ponder later because currently, they had a ghoul on the loose and Arima had to stop him before he reached the genuine reception hall where people were actually enjoying the party, clueless about what had happened not far away from their location.

"Stay with her," Arima instructed the other two students who just like him, were having second thoughts about Matsumoto´s character. He retrieved Ixa from the ground and dashed after Hamasaki at full speed. It seemed he was not able to contain that fight away from the reception hall as he had previously intended.

* * *

><p>It happened right after experiencing the sensation of being watched that Saya jolted at a loud thump and at the hysterical screams coming from within the hall which perpetuated all the way through the spot she was standing at with her father. Nothing prepared her for what came next. A ghoul had forced his way into the hall, his kagune active and ready to spill blood. Her father came to shield her from the front, instinctively raising an arm to protect her behind him. The ghoul looked confused, as if looking for something or better yet, running away from someone and it was precisely when her brother caught up with him, face impassive and unforgiving that she understood the ghoul was going to meet his end. There was simply no escaping her brother. People were panicking and dashing in all directions looking for a way out, chaos installing itself at a matching pace.<p>

"A ghoul! Here of all places!" Marude exclaimed, running over to their side. "Why on earth did you approve a masquerade ball?" The investigator asked, realizing how easy it was for ghouls to infiltrate into a party of such profile. He peered at the ghoul positioned just a few meters from them, trying to guess whose face was concealed behind those thick layers of hardened material.

"And why not?" Daichi smiled mysteriously, "Kishou came up with the idea. What better invitation to send out to people who commit beastly acts wearing masks?"

"You mean, you orchestrated this?" Marude gaped at his ex-colleague, still deciding whether to label the Arimas brilliant or downright insane.

"Now, don´t be so aghast, Marude, we´ve done worse things during my youth, remember?"

Marude closed his mouth, eerily reminded of a time where they commonly used humans as baits and chose to refrain from adding more to the subject. It was Kishou battling the ghoul out there and he wouldn´t allow for any type of human sacrifices. As for Daichi, Marude was surprised. He had known that man from their youth and he hadn´t always been ruthless nor quick to take chances. It had to be that German woman´s influence, no doubt about it. Marude shuddered just at the mere mention of her name. He had never really liked that woman. She looked feminine but all her decisions were that of a man and when she gazed at you she could reach out to the darkest depths of one´s soul and drag you out, humiliated and exposed. And you could never say no to her, Marude had experienced it first-handedly once. Quite the irony for her to die because of a weak heart condition. Daichi´s voice slowly called him back to reality, that woman´s poisonous laugh perishing from his ears.

"But the fact is, this little ´demonstration´ had to remain off stage. Something must have gone wrong," Arima senior mused, waiting for Kishou to finish the job already. He turned to his daughter, grabbing her by the shoulders.

"Saya, go to your hotel room, lock the door and stay there until this is over, alright?"

"Yes, Father," she complied and ran towards the stairs until his eyes were no longer following her. All of a sudden, she stopped in her route, preparing to make a detour to that one person she caught watching her earlier. Saya swam through the crowd and slid round a corner, coming face to face with a masked stranger. Not much of a stranger in her case since she had inexplicably acquired this sixth sense of knowing when he was near and to prove it to herself, her hand jerked to his face, forcefully removing his mask.

"What are you doing here?!" She shouted in Uta´s now exposed face. "Don´t tell me you´re with him!" She accused, pointing at the soon-to-be massacred ghoul.

"Well, I _am_ driving their getaway car," he admitted. Her grey eyes widened, starting to sound incoherent.

"What?! You´re actually part of this? Are you serious?"

"Let´s just say that ghoul´s death brought some unnecessary trouble," Uta said, reminding her of an unpleasant memory. "Whether you believe me or not, I came to ensure you live through this."

A few feet away from them, Kishou was going all out on Hamasaki, cornering him into submission. That ghoul kept his own against Kishou admirably but not for long, it was only a matter of time before Kishou decapitated him. What poor reasoning to come challenge her brother directly, they should all know he was not considered the Shinigami of the CCG for nothing.

"You might have noticed by now that I´m perfectly fine," Saya said matter-of-factly, her confidence in her brother needing no more backup than it already had.

The hall was clearing out at an alarming speed which meant soon enough, they would not be shielded from her family´s sight.

"But you´re not. Come with me," Saya ordered, shoving the mask in his face with such strength Uta realized that girl could throw quite the devastating punch if a situation required it. He allowed her to lead them up the stairs and through an empty corridor until they reached a hotel room. She unlocked it quickly and ushered them inside.

"If you get out this window, you´ll be able to reach the main street in a few minutes. It´s safe, no one´s guarding it, I heard Security mention it earlier," The young woman informed him, placing her mask on one of the nearby nightstands. It was a long way down but it would be no problem for a ghoul like him to escalade it safely. Saya then proceeded to inhale a deep breath to gather courage for what she was about to say. "And with this, everything is going to be over. You saved my life, I´m about to save yours and by the time the night ends, we can pretend none of this ever happened."

In his presence, expelling the words was harder than what she had imagined, mainly because she did not believe them herself. Perhaps he did not believe them either because his gaze was that of someone who hadn´t seen another in a long time and was studiously trying to recall everything about that person.

"You look wonderful," he said out of the blue. She expected to hear him say anything but that. Why was he doing that to her? She was prepared to forget about him, or at least use all her inner strength to do it but now that he launched such an observation, she felt the ground melt under her feet. She tried veiling her nervousness by counteracting his words with humor.

"Wonderful as in pretty or wonderful as in an appetizing slice of cake?"

He left the answer hanging in the air, smiling secretly in concordance with his thoughts. She scoffed at him, not pleased to be toyed with and not sure if she liked where that was going. Unannounced, he stepped closer to her, slowly, alluring in every inch he stalked near her. Her surviving instinct, as low as it was around that man, kicked in and pushed her back, dragging her feet away from him until she bumped into the wardrobe behind.

"I´m starting to have second thoughts," he confessed, his eyes traveling on the entire length of her body. She gulped, finally realizing what a stupid idea it was to be locked in a room with a ghoul as spontaneous as him.

"In regards to letting me live?"

"In regards to letting you go."

She pushed backwards but there was simply no more room for her to distance herself from Uta, the knobs of the wardrobe puncturing her shoulder blades to the point of numbness. Saya never had the chance to be so close to him, feeling his own breath prickling at her skin, his entire body radiating heat and a dominance that kneeled her to his whims. He continued watching her as she became even more flustered, his eyes trying to read her own, devouring her piece by piece without even having to touch her. That bastard could probably hear her heartbeat rebelling against her rib cage and he was probably laughing internally at her, curious to see what other reactions he could draw out. The entire time he had been calm, in control actually. Her? A complete mess but doing a great job at remaining conscious and still holding herself on her two feet. She did not understand what caused his change of heart or what his intentions were and she feared she would faint before finding out.

"Let´s go for coffee instead," Uta whispered.

"Yes," She said dreamily only to realize she had replied to a sentence she did not even register. In that state she would have said ´yes´ to almost anything. "What?" Saya asked for more details, wondering why the talk about coffee popped into such a critical moment.

"You suggested we go to an art gallery but I prefer going out for coffee since I can actually drink it," he explained, pulling away from her. "Moreover, if we go to a gallery we can´t talk leisurely."

"Yes…talk," she repeated while convincing herself that talking was all she wanted to do with him. Horrified by how disappointed his retreat left her, Saya pulled herself to her full height, miserably trying to regain some dignity.

"If it´s alright with you, we can go tomorrow at noon. Anteiku is a safe place for us to meet. It´s in the 20th district."

"Yes, I know it," she said, remembering how the last time she went there she was putting all thoughts about him at rest. A question was burning at the top of her tongue though.

"What changed your mind?"

He did not even take time to think of the answer but delivered the words sharply.

"In that dress, you can make me do anything."

Initially, Saya thought she had misheard him judging from the composed expression he wore expelling such words. There was nothing sensual about his tone, he had voiced out the statement as serious as one would proclaim what day of the week it was and that made her even more worried. Saya realized she did not know much about that man apart from the churning effect she had on her being and on her usually tame mind. And yet, he had stepped right in, had let himself in her heart as he pleased and gained access to her weaknesses. And she had no strength to complain or blame him. The change was sudden. She had labeled him passive before, she being the one to advance and greedily ask but as their roles inversed, Saya began questioning her integrity.

He had been staring at the door for the past seconds, a knock at the door letting her know the reason. Her father was right outside the door. Uta took that as the signal to make himself scarce and with one last look in her directionm left through the window without bothering to wait for an answer to his invitation. She was going to be there and they both knew it.

"Saya, darling, are you alright?" Her father asked as soon as she opened the door for him. "You look agitated, your face is red," Daichi noticed, touching his daughter´s forehead in concern. "It´s over dear, Daichi took care of the intruder, you can come down when you´re ready."

"That´s good to hear." She fell into her father´s embrace, her arms wrapping around him tightly. Daichi patted his daughter on the head, feeling safer than ever.

"No need to worry, Saya. No ghoul is ever going to take you away."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello guys! The awaited chapter is finally here, thanks for supporting me along the way and commenting on my chapters, it really keeps me going! This chapter was way too long but I had characters to introduce and actions to explain so bear with me. I´m sure many of you were hoping for Uta to save Saya in this chapter but I actually wrote it the other way around XD. Have no fear, Uta will have the chance to play hero in the future.

Thank you to my new followers and to all you great people who favorite me and the story! *hands cake*

And now, my special thanks to my regular reviewers!

**Chiharu-angel: **Thank you so much, hope to see you here again to let me know what you think!^^

**Megohime of Mutsu: **Hello again and as always, many thanks for the love! I´m glad you liked the chapter, I intended to make it like a rollercoaster, for things to happen one after another. In his innocence, I guess Kaneki would make that mistake and Itori would deliberately uncover truths to suit her wishes. She´s always bipolar, that woman. But for that, she plays right into the story, helping me raise intrigue and troubling my poor character. XD I don´t have any other stories except a Psycho Pass one which wasn´t very successful but that anime wasn´t that popular though. Too bad, I really liked it. Catch you later!

**Flatwaffles29: **Let the stalking go on! To make things easier for you, I´ll tell you that I update on Thursdays or Fridays, depending on my schedule. I would update faster but time is scarce for me right now and I end up posting these chapters late into the night. It´s 2 am here, I´m not even joking. Because of this late hour, I sometimes make grammar mistakes and I´ll have to go back and fix a few. I apologize for that, shall get them fixed. English is not my native language so please forgive me? I´m sorry to hear the manga ripped your heart, hope this fanfiction will mend it a bit. I can´t promise anything because sometimes characters get a will of their own and they surprise even the creators but do stay with me from now on as well! Thank you.

**sherlaylay: **Hello again! :) I´m really fortunate to have such loyal reviewers, it makes the writing process a lot more enjoyable. As for Itori, who else than her to cause unnecessary drama? The ball was premeditated by Kishou who definitively doesn´t know anything else but work and wouldn´t waste an opportunity as this in a million years. But even he´s not perfect in his judgment which is why I had Matsumoto inconvenience him a bit. Looking forward to hearing your opinion for this chapter, miss!

**Cyleana: **You have a big hug from me and my thanks for writing such a lengthy, wonderful review. I suppose that like all members of Fanfiction Net I am an aspiring writer but I still have a long way to go. You don´t need to get discouraged by writing, you never know what good idea you might have so don´t let it go to waste **:). **I´m happy people like the fact that I´m replying to their comments, to tell you the truth, this is probably my favorite part about this story –talking to you guys, discussing the characters and speculating ideas. Good job on noticing how manipulative Itori is, I also had the exact same scene in mind when writing the part with her and Kaneki. I mean, the woman threw blood in his face just to see his eye activated, that was rude and uncalled for XD. But it gave us a pretty good idea about the type of person she is. Hope to see your ID in my review section for this chapter too. And as for the hard time you´re experiencing right now, as Sheldon said to Howard in that TV series I won´t advertise, "This too shall pass". Remember, bad times will go away eventually, even if it takes a long time, they will become a matter of the past. It´s unnatural for things to stay the same. Be strong, don´t lose faith and hope this chapter too will be of comfort!

**Kirschflower: **Thank you, my dear reviewer! Keeping my fingers crossed about this chapter and hope it did not disappoint. The Uta-Saya moments were at the end of the chapter but things are going well, right? *wink.


	6. And so it begins

**Disclaimer****:** ****I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: And so it begins…<strong>

Saya´s expectations for the following morning weren´t anything grand; she imagined she would start it off by enjoying a nice cup of tea on the terrace, play some 70´s Jazz on her antique gramophone and probably spend at least an hour in front of her closet deciding what to wear for her date with Uta. She did not have the time to ponder whether it was a real date or not, nor giggle hysterically out of nowhere as she would waltz through her room in anticipation nor get out of bed for that matter, when a maid let herself in to announce that Kishou requested her presence downstairs. In spite of appearances, her brother was not as patient as everybody thought he was which was why she limited her morning rituals to washing her face, tying her hair in a low bun and throwing on the first clothes she extracted from her wardrobe. As per usual in her family, actions came first, explanations later. He greeted her ´good morning´ and led her to the car, both driving away to an unknown destination. She tried asking for details between the numerous phone calls Kishou received on a daily basis, hoping they wouldn´t be away for long but it was only when the car pulled in front of the CCG building that Saya regretfully said goodbye to her morning plans. Whatever it was Kishou had in store for her, it would better finalize before that afternoon.

They went through the main entrance, the premise as unchanged as the last time she had been there. Everyone greeted them, some trying to catch a word with her brother but unfortunately for them, Kishou had no second to spare. Finally in the elevator, she was about to push the 15th floor button where her brother´s office was located when Kishou´s finger went for a red one instead, that particular one designating the basement. Saya frowned, wondering what was going on. In all the years she had visited the CCG headquarters, she was never taken to the basement, in fact, that area was strictly forbidden to her and any other invited guest. A sharp ding announced they reached the inferior floor, metallic doors sliding aside to reveal a heavily enforced corridor leading to various sections, everything illuminated and supervised. He led her to a glass door that read A102, her confusion dwindling slightly at the sight of a training room unfolding right before her eyes. At the far back, Amon Koutaru was patiently waiting for their arrival. Continuing to stew in her state of stupefaction, Saya´s eyes begged assistance from Inspector Amon.

"Good morning," he saluted both his superior and his confused sister whom he worriedly asked," I hope you are alright, Arima-san. I heard things got a bit out of hand after I left last night."

"I´m fine, thank you Amon-san. Things never get out of hand with my brother around," she responded, wondering if either of them was finally going to take pity on her and inform her about what was happening. As an alternative to clarification, Kishou placed a black box in front of her and opened it. Its contents, void of anything decorative had but one object guarded: a gun. A natural at handling such weapons, Kishou took it out and settled it in Saya´s skeptical hands.

"What do you want me to do with this?" She asked, not liking the cold, foreign feel of the item against her skin.

"You will learn how to fire a gun," Kishou stated.

"Excuse-me?" What had gotten into her brother all of a sudden? In the past she had been the one to ask him to teach her how to work a firearm and he had vehemently refused, sending her away to dance lessons and other harmless preoccupations and now he was offering? She looked at him in a manner that demanded answers and he complied.

"It´s high time you get taught," Kishou replied, loading the gun with a special set of bullets while she still held the gun. She had to learn how to handle it on her own in the future. "If there is ever a situation I can´t reach you in due time, I need you to protect yourself till I get there. You´ve seen for yourself that we can´t always anticipate people´s actions accurately." He spoke of the incident that happened yesterday of course and while his reasons were understandable, he was wrong to believe she was ready for such a task. Furthermore, Kishou pretended not to notice the disheartened look on Saya´s face, opting to dazzle her with unceasing facts.

"This is not a regular gun, but one that can fire Q bullets developed by the GFG with the purpose of lethally harming ghouls. You just need to aim well and they will do the rest."

She glanced down at the terrible object in her hands disgustedly. That thing could hurt Uta. It could even kill him. Her first instinct was that of dropping it to the floor but Kishou came behind her and guided her by the shoulders closer to Amon, a shooting target coming into view. Without notice, her brother grabbed her by the arms and positioned her to stand correctly on her two feet.

"At first, your only goal will be that of hitting the target. As you get better, you will have to hit certain vital points. One bullet for the kakuhou, which Amon-san here will explain in further detail, one for the heart and one for the head to make sure you finish the job. Learn to do it properly and quickly, until it becomes second nature," Kishou instructed sternly. It was the best he could do for her at the moment and she would not need to go through the nerve-breaking training he and his other colleagues received at the Academy. Kishou almost felt sorry for her, and angry at himself for forcing her to step into this world but he could not shield her forever. If she did not learn what true danger was and how to protect herself from it she would continue living her days thinking her life was always going to be preserved by others around her. Saya was no soldier but he could not allow her to be a helpless spectator either. If push came to shove, she had to at least try to stand her own or else that ignorance him and his father allowed her to grow into would be the end of them. "Do you understand?" He asked for confirmation.

She felt uncomfortable, her brother´s arms locking her into a cell of dishonesty. What had brought all of this? Was this punishment for what she had done the other night, or worse, for what she was about to do? She could not find it in her heart to say no, she was going to meet a ghoul later in the afternoon and stomp on all the principles the ones around had instilled in her since birth.

"Yes, Brother," Saya finally agreed, Kishou releasing her to her freedom. Next, he focused on Amon who politely stood aside, an innocent bystander in their family bonding moment.

"I leave her in your care, Amon-san."

"No need to worry, Arima-san. I will go easy on her."

Having seen trustworthiness on Amon´s face, Kishou decided to take his leave and attend to the matters assigned to him for that day. He took one last look at Saya who appeared to have shrunk into that little girl that used to follow him around all day when they were children and he was amazed to see how weak to her he still was.

"At least stay with me until you teach me properly," she complained silently. It wasn´t that Amon was a stranger but she still felt unusual having to bear her lack of skill in front of an inspector other than her family members. Truthfully not wishing to inconvenience Amon, Saya apologized in behalf of her brother.

"I´m sorry, Amon-san. You must be awfully busy and my brother is making you baby sit me."

Amon shook his head, that thought having never crossed his mind. Spending time with Arima Saya was no punishment, by far. She was perspicacious and always knew exactly what to say and was certainly less intimidating than her brother. In fact, the earlier display had made him reconsider the way he regarded Arima. Amon had utmost respect for Arima but had always perceived him as distant in spite of the warm words and sociable character he projected, therefore his attitude towards Saya had rendered him as humanly as Amon had ever seen him. His words were clear, authoritarian but the hands on her arms caring and overprotective. Without second thoughts, family was the one place you could truly be yourself.

"It´s perfectly fine with me, Arima-san. Due to the recent transfer of Mado Akira-san, I´ve had some spare time on my hands lately," He told her, Saya recognizing the name as Mado Kureo´s daughter. As a daughter of two acclaimed inspectors, she had followed in their footsteps and was now part of the CCG. "Also," Amon continued," I don´t think what your brother is doing is wrong. This just shows how much he cares about you."

"If he cares so much, he should know how much I dislike this."

"Each family member of every CCG inspector knows how to shoot a gun for their own protection. If I may, I believe you should have learnt to do so earlier."

"I see," Saya said, not expecting him to side with her brother in this injustice she thought she was experiencing. Trying to change the subject of discussing Arima Kishou behind the man´s back, Amon took it upon himself to begin her training. "Alright then, Arima-san showed you the correct way to hold the gun I notice. First, you have to take these," He handed her shooting ear muffs which she put on but not before hearing his following instructions. "Now, please relax your shoulders, place your finger on the trigger, aim at a point on the target plank and when you are ready, shoot."

Saya registered all the steps, made sure she completed all of them and pulled the trigger experimentally. Her first attempt was a disaster. She did not even hit the plank, nonetheless the target and the bullet stuck itself in the wall behind. Annoyed, she took off her muffs just in time to hear Amon say:

"Keep going, not many are successful on their first try. Just remember to maintain a comfortable grip and visualize the area the bullet will hit." She accepted, not wanting to waste Amon´s encouragement though she knew very well how much her talent accounted for. Saya was skilled in other domains, specifically in some that did not require such confining discipline. She fired again and again and again until she ran out of bullets, each attempt worse than the previous. Saya simply felt she could not hold the gun well and maybe it was psychological, she did not really want to master the firearm and whenever she shot, the direct rebound from releasing the bullet pushed her back, shaking her entire body. How could such a small thing have so much power, it was beyond her understanding. At her side, Amon was observing the young woman carefully, trying to pinpoint what she was doing wrong to fail so miserably. One of her main problems was that she was giving up too fast and he was not really surprised to see her remove her ear muffs and place the gun on the table, abandoning the fight.

"This is not me, Amon-san. I don´t shoot people. I would never be able to point this thing at someone and shoot, I don´t have the mental strength to do it."

"Not even if it means saving someone important to you?"

Her head jerked at him, noting the man was starting to play dirty. It was not fair to put it that way but his scenario did induce some thinking and did make her reconsider her earlier statement. If her father or brother were ever in harm´s way, she would probably not hesitate. She would most likely miss hitting the aggressor but Saya liked to think she would not stand and do nothing.

Amon took her silence as it really was – an indecisive answer and added more salt to the wound.

"Failing to protect the ones you cherish is the most painful thing in the world, Arima-san."

She had the feeling he was talking about Mado. Saya did not know the entire story but from the bits and piece she could pull together, on the night Mado died, Amon was with him and had somehow failed to prevent his death. For someone as dedicated as Amon, that fact would continue to remain unbearable for the longest of time. She studied his sad profile hoping that what she was about to say would ease his worries a bit.

"I never had the chance to tell you this Amon-san but you have my condolences for Mado-san. I know you cared about him, I too, grieve his death. He was a good man. A bit eccentric, but a good man."

He smiled, agreeing with the ´eccentric´ part. "He truly was."

To make matters even better, Saya reached out for the gun again, a new-found determination taking over her. "Speaking of which," she said, "Mado´s daughter is your new partner, isn´t that right?"

Amon got called out of his walk down memory lane, Akira´s face popping in his mind. "Yes, she is. Akira-san is quite intelligent and skilled, she makes a great addition to our team."

_Well, I hope not that great_, Saya mused, realizing that another prodigy in the CCG would put Uta and Kaneki into more danger than they already were. She raised her hands to meet the target again, still addressing Amon.

"Hmm, you praised her in detail even though I did not ask for it. She must be very pretty," Saya guessed, her tone conspirational enough to visibly embarrass Amon.

"Ah, no, it´s nothing of the sort, Arima-san."

"You don´t have to explain yourself to me, Amon-san, anything can happen," she pushed forward with her assumption, enjoying to see that six feet tall man flustered to the bone.

"Actually, I´m not good with romantic issues at all, I never think of this," He paused suddenly. "Have you ever been in love, Arima-san?"

She shot the gun at that precise moment, the surprise of the question actually helping her hit the target. She had no idea what to be more affected about, the fact that she actually hit that plank or Amon´s inappropriate question.

"I´m so sorry, Arima-san! I don´t know what got into me, I´m not usually this direct."

"It´s fine," she assured him, masterfully avoiding the question. "Well, I think this is it for today. I should get going now, I have some business to attend later."

"Eeeehhhhh? You´re stopping now, when you´ve just managed to successfully hit the target?" An eerie voice rang throughout the training room, pressing both Saya and Amon to raise their heads and search for the source of the intervention. They spotted the third party perched somewhere on a loose rail hanging from the ceiling and looking down at the two interlocutors who felt uneasy about failing to notice his presence.

"Suzuya-kun. What are you doing here?" Amon inquired, providing Saya with the clue to identify who the spectator was. She had heard that name coming from her father and brother´s lips as of late, his recent addition to the team causing quite the controversy. From what Saya could pick up, Suzuya Juuzou was, what investigators liked to call, a ´special case´ and as she witnessed him jump down with a feline's dexterity and approaching them in a silent rhythm, Saya could perfectly see why. He was tall, skinny and dressed strangely, in mock contrast to the formal suit Amon was wearing proudly. She stared into his girly features, his appearance momentarily distracting her to doubt his gender while the painful-looking stitches on his arms and face summoned a feeling of dread within herself. She was inclined to believe he was as good as they said even though he did not look nearly as capable. Whatever the case, he was an investigator and Saya was set on treating him as fairly as she would treat any other member of the CCG. She had been taught better than to judge people based on their appearances in spite of her current urge to vacate the training room as soon as possible and avoid initiating contact with such a scary person.

"Well, Amon-san, I heard our respectable Arima-san sent his sister for a training session and I came to see. It´s too bad it ended," Suzuya complained childishly, sticking his hands in his pockets and leaning back on his heels. Saya hardly knew what to make of him, his complicated character throwing her off balance. She then looked at Amon, replying to Suzuya´s complaint with what she thought was reasonable judgment.

"I´m sorry Suzuya-san, but I´m sure Amon-san here agrees it´s enough training for today."

"Certainly," the mentioned investigator accepted, "we will resume our session tomorrow morning."

Unfortunately for Saya, Suzuya was not done for the day.

"That´s so disappointing. With that level of skill, you won´t be able to kill off any ghouls, Arima-san."

Momentarily, Saya remained silent. In all the years she had visited the CCG headquarters, no one expected anything from her. She was the relative of a very important special investigator and that was it. They never had anything to tell her or deny her and that child there was now degrading her skills and branding her as useless in a fight she was never going to be part of anyways. Even though she had complete knowledge of that fact, she still felt a bit discredited and wondered if Suzuya was under the wrong impression when it came to her.

"It´s alright with me Suzuya-san because I don´t plan on killing any ghouls."

"You don´t?" The younger investigator inquired curiously, his eyebrows rising comically. He came even closer to Saya, walking in circles around her with his arms at his back in a contemplative manner. "Then why are you learning? I don´t understand, miss. Please explain it to me. Why is Arima-san and Amon-san wasting valuable time to teach you something you will never make use of?"

"Because my brother is overprotective and wants to help me," the girl responded. She shuddered at his tone, picking up the affronting provocation within it.

"By teaching you useless things? Is that how family love works? I wouldn´t know," he stated, appealing to his lack of said experiences as guide.

"It´s not useless," Saya insisted, reminding herself that Suzuya had special circumstances even though she did not know exactly what those circumstances were.

"But you said you´re never going to shoot anybody. That **_is_** useless. And a complete waste of time."

"Suzuya-kun," Amon warned, noticing the rising tension in Saya´s body. She stood stiff, her gun grasped tightly between her fingers and clearly not used to be thrown into such a criticizing light. She disliked where the conversation was going and the control he was consciously exerting over her, intelligently exploiting her weaknesses.

"You wouldn´t understand," Saya declared, desperately wanting to put an end to the conversation.

"That´s exactly it! That´s what I´ve been trying to tell you. It´s hard for me to get it, unlike Arima-san, I have no precious little sister to exercise my mercy on." He leaned in, helping her notice the dark circles under his eyes and the vacant flare in them, the possibility of him being insane contouring vividly by the second. Not only was he invading her personal space but he also managed to propel her out of her comfort zone and she ceased feeling safe, even with inspector Amon at her side.

"Stay away from me," she ordered miserably, her tone losing substance by the second.

"Or what? You´re going to shoot me?"

"I might," she tried threatening in vain, immobilized by her own irrational fear. At the sound of that, Suzuya broke into a fit of laughter, his legs proceeding to spin him into an outrageous pirouette, tempting Saya to make a living target out of him. He stopped into a mocking ballet pose, his eyes finally focusing into what Saya could identify as his real self, a lifeless and sinister Pierrot.

"You won´t."

That was all it took for Saya to snap. Who did that psycho think he was, judging her and weighting her brother´s concern for her? He had no right to ostracize her and treat her as if she was guilty of being loved by someone, even if she was the coward he correctly guessed her to be. She tried being nice to him, she really did but then he began challenging her by standards which were not even supposed to be applied to regular people. Special case be damned, she was not going to leave that place more humiliated than she already was.

"I will," she stated, regaining some of her confidence and with it, the courage to lift the gun to Suzuya´s head. Suzuya´s twisted grin faded and Amon himself had his danger sense kick in at what could turn out to be a very messy situation.

"Arima-san, please put the gun down," Amon asked her nicely, his arms positioned defensively at her side. She paid him no mind.

"I will do it. I have nothing to lose," Saya told Suzuya, finally gaining the upper hand in the whole ordeal. "If I shoot you, the worst that could happen is that I´ll get house arrest for two weeks and the whole incident would be covered up anonymously all because I am Arima´s precious little sister," she battled him with his own words in a tone that was by far hypothetical and to prove it, released the safety on the gun thus shocking Amon by how plausible her scenario sounded to be. "I would be bored out of my mind for two weeks locked inside my room, yes, but all this time, you would be dead and long incinerated, on your way to hell."

The circumstances for Amon to experience lack of control were not that many and he surely did not expect for a simple morning spent in the lovely company of Arima Saya to turn into that disaster. It was his fault as well, he should have avoided the meeting between Suzuya and Saya, she was not used to interacting with individuals of his caliber and it should have been obvious it would cause some ruckus. It was far too late now and the only solution Amon was left with was that of preventing the young woman to pull the trigger. He did not think she would actually shoot but something about her reminded Amon of the calm before a storm, that one state any versed investigator would adopt before an important decision. Putting his nervousness aside, Amon looked over to Suzuya, silently pleading him to put an end to the conflict by apologizing or by leaving as quickly as possible yet, he should have known better. This was Suzuya Juuzou he was dealing with. The young man did neither of the two and chose to open door number three. Closing the remaining space between him and Saya, Suzuya slowly brought his hand to Saya´s own, his fingers encircling around her raised wrist and pulling it down. Holding his breath, Amon watched Saya´s trembling arm be tamed by Suzuya, a strange expression plastered on the latter´s pale face as he said the following:

"And they say you´re nothing like your brother."

Saya frowned, hating him for making that statement. Unsatisfied by the result yet secretly at ease, Saya freed herself from Suzuya´s grasp, glaring at him intently. With swift movements, she placed the gun in its case and dropped the lid with a loud thump, hoping to never touch it again.

"I´ll be going ahead, Amon-san," she said instead of a goodbye and directed her feet towards the exit, not one second of attention spared to Suzuya.

As she stormed into the elevator and pushed the button that would take her up to the surface, Saya tried to reconcile with her nerves. Her entire body was burning, denying it was she who had acted so childish just seconds ago. She had lost her temper and composure in front of a child who had not acted as disgraceful as she did and for an instant, feared about what her brother would have to say about it. She needed to calm down.

However, it felt good standing up for herself. She had no idea what mysterious force took over her but it helped. By the time the elevator doors opened to unfold the main lobby of the building, Saya was almost back to her usual demeanor and surely more prepared for the meeting with Uta that afternoon.

* * *

><p>Arima Kishou was staring intently at his computer screen when the door to his office opened and a white-haired youth let himself in. Suzuya walked over to the nearest chair and flopped in it uninvited, stretching his limbs while he was at it.<p>

"Training session completed!" He announced.

"And?" Arima asked, not taking his eyes of his screen but paying close attention to his subordinate.

"It was just as you expected, Arima-san, she´s very bad at it. She did hit the target once but I think it was a coincidence. From what I saw, she wasn´t even trying," Suzuya relented the information. A brief inspection of his stiches let him know one string was in need of immediate care and without any warning, took out his trusty needle and stuck it into the disobeying red thread.

For his turn, Arima remained silent, preferring to ponder on the facts. Suzuya had noted everything accurately, he predicted that his sister would not give her all for a cause she had no interest in and since she was that stubborn, it would take quite a lot of training for her to acquire a decent shooting range. He knew so many things about his little sister and at the same time, he did not know much. Arima pressed play again on the video he had been replaying for the past ten minutes, namely the saved footage from the previous night at the masquerade ball in which Saya could be clearly seen running on the corridors of the hotel holding a masked stranger´s hand. Identifying the man was going to turn out difficult but his instinct told him that it was of utmost importance to find out who he was. For the moment, he would keep the information hidden from his father, not until he got a name at least.

"By the way, Arima-san," Suzuya said, having finished his flesh art, "why did you send me to monitor your sister? Do you not trust Amon-san?"

Arima acknowledged the pertinent question by turning towards Suzuya. "I do but I needed an objective point of view. You see, Amon-san is partial to my sister and therefore unable to judge her fairly."

"Ohhh, I see," the other man mused, placing his elbows on Arima´s desk and supporting his chin in his hands, much like a child listening to a captivating story.

"However," Arima emphasized, pushing his glasses higher on the bridge of his nose, "you too must always be nice to my sister, Suzuya-kun. Girls are to be treated with care."

"Ah!" The younger inspector exclaimed, his head popping upwards in enlightenment. "Shinohara said the same thing to me once!" Not long ago, Suzuya asked his partner about manners towards girls when he witnessed him hold a door open for a female investigator to pass through. Moreover, Shinohara was always highly accommodating towards his wife and Suzuya had wondered about it more than once. Still, he never got the chance to ask his partner the question he was about to direct to Arima. "But why do we have to be careful with girls, Arima-san?" To Suzuya, women were the same as men. They ate the same, they slept the same, they bled the same.

Arima took a few seconds to consider his answer, concocting one that even that particular investigator could understand.

"Because they are fragile and they break."

* * *

><p>There was a bright, torrid sun glaring down on Matsumoto´s head as she stood outside of the Arima residence watching out for any unusual movement. The female trainee stood posted someplace concealed but from where she could efficiently survey all exits of the house and particularly pay mind to a certain member of the family she had been secretly entrusted with. She was halfway through her chocolate bar – an unhealthy habit of hers which helped time pass faster and not as dull – when Arima Saya left the premises of her home.<p>

_Finally_, Matsumoto thought, seeing Saya descend the stairs in a summery green dress which looked like it could be worn on a special occasion but then again, all her clothes had a rather celebratory aspect to them unlike Matsumoto´s over-worn scraps she had at home. Not being one to litter, Matsumoto stuffed the bar wrap next to the other two in her rucksack and cautiously started following the other woman. Frankly, she thought her punishment for endangering the mission the previous night would be a lot harsher, which was why she acted confused when Arima had instructed her to keep an eye on his sister in the afternoon.

Frankly, she had no idea it would be that excruciating.

The girl led her to shopping districts, paraded her around shelves of shoes and coats, drenched her in intoxicating perfumes and gave her no second to drool at the delicious pastries freshly taken out the oven at the best bakery shop in Tokyo. She kept following her, wondering when it was all going to end, hating every passing second of feeling like a brainless girl who only knew the pretty side of life. It was as if she was doing it on purpose, penalizing Matsumoto for intruding on her extra feminine afternoon. Matsumoto felt drained and repelled. How easy life was for Arima´s sister. Compared to her brother, her days were a blessing from above and in contrast to her, Matsumoto was still learning how to survive and keep going. Matsumoto learned about weapons and quinques and martial arts while that pampered princess reveled in dresses and flowers. It was unfair. She could place a bet on anything that at the age of five, Saya was participating in her first ballet lesson whereas at the same age, Matsumoto was experiencing her first day as an orphan, having lost her parents to ghouls and taken into the custody of CCG. She wondered where did all the bitterness surface from and she realized it was probably slight jealousy. Even though she would never admit it, Matsumoto was perhaps jealous of Arima Kishou´s unconditional care for Saya, a figment of which she could not seem to earn from the man. In her hardest, deepest attempts, Matsumoto still managed to fail, as was the case with the night before.

What she was set on admitting though, was that she liked Arima Kishou beyond the feelings of respect and admiration. It started off with those notions, yes, but over time, she became infatuated. Something about him always put her on edge, making her heart to flutter and cheeks to burn at the mere sight of him. In the rare instances he praised her, she felt she needed nothing else from like and if he wanted her to be his sister´s watchdog, she would treat it like any other mission and actually do it well.

Matsumoto turned so dizzy after her entire round downtown with Saya she barely missed her getting into a train towards district ten. She got into the same cart as well, trying to keep her distance away from her but still keep the girl in view but not too well it seemed because right before the train doors closed for departure, she saw Saya descend it at the last second.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Matsumoto exclaimed, helplessly watching as the train started moving leaving the station and Saya behind and thus making her fail yet another mission. By the time Matsumoto would be able to board another train and return, Saya would be long gone.

And indeed, Saya was quick to leave and, jumping into the train that would take her in the completely opposite direction, she tried to hold back a laugh at Matsumoto´s unguarded expression.

_Silly girl, _Saya thought to herself,_ I´ve been around investigators all my life, remember? I may not know how to shoot a gun but I do notice when someone is tailing me. _

Nevertheless, Saya was not out of harm´s way yet. The fact she was being followed only meant her brother was on to something and that was always worrisome. It went without saying that she had envisioned the dreadful future where her brother would find out about the conspiracy behind his back but she hoped it would be much later, after her heart would settle with her decisions completely. She hadn´t even had a first rendezvous with Uta and he was already sending people to follow her. From here on, caution would be her main priority.

Anteiku was warm and not that crowded in the afternoon, serving most of its customers in the morning and wrapping up everything in the evening. She arrived earlier than the established hour for she planned to solve something before diving in her date with Uta. A quick glance at the serving counter told her she was dealing with the same cast that had been present last time. A hospitable manager, two insecure waiters who exchanged glances at her arrival and a very surprised Kaneki Ken. Saya took a seat at the counter, right in front of Kaneki and not far away from Nishiki and Touka. Kaneki stopped his busy process of stacking sugar cubes in a crystal cup, mouth open in feeblessness, not knowing what to say. Giving the last discussion they had the last time Saya was there, Kaneki feared she would never want to see him again.

"That coffee you served me last time…it was good," Saya stated matter-of-factly. "What was it?"

She was talking to him; To a ghoul, to a colleague who had kept the truth away from her and the rest of the world, to a person who nearly shed tears, moved by her generosity. Kaneki blinked his eyes, shaking off the first stages of sobbing and tried his best to remember what he served.

"It was a special brew from Jamaican Blue Mountain beans," he told her, thrilled to hear his selection was inspired enough to make Saya point it out to him. His first days at Anteiku were disastrous in terms of coffee serving and brewing but he eventually got better, to such an extent that Saya was not the only customer to express appreciation.

"It was really a good choice," she repeated her approbation of his taste, no longer weary about talking to him. She had planned this conversation differently in her head but words rolled out of her mouth attesting just how easy it was to talk to Kaneki. It was simply impossible to regard Kaneki with feelings other than camaraderie and freedom, he just did not play the part of a ghoul really well.

"Here, I´ll fix you another cup in a second," he offered, his fingers extended towards a jar full of Jamaican Blue beans.

"Not yet," Saya stopped him by placing a hand on his own, perplexed by how comfortable she felt around him, despite of his recently exposed existence. She retracted her limb, supplying the young man with the explanation. "I´m actually meeting someone here. A ghoul. His name is Uta, you might know him."

Yes, Kaneki knew him, not for long but enough to label him as a person who stayed away from trouble and who had the trust of everyone at Anteiku. From the bits and pieces he could gather during Itori and Saya´s conversation the last time they were at the café, Kaneki understood by himself that there was something going on between those two but he did not know how serious it was. Of all the people to have a connection to ghouls, it had to be precisely Saya-san.

"I am not a hypocrite, Kaneki-san. If I like someone, I like them regardless of what they are, human or ghoul. The reason why I am standing here today is because I gave everything a lot of thought and came to the conclusion that just as there are good humans, there are also decent ghouls out there and I am sure you and Uta are included in that category," Saya spoke her mind, believing everything she put into words.

"I do not know why yet, but in the end, to me, you are still Kaneki Ken. From what I sense about you, you never hurt anyone and I strongly believe you will never hurt me."

"Saya-san…"

"I don´t intend to pretend none of this ever happened and that we will all go back to how things used to be but…I am open to make concessions. Both for you and for Uta."

How fickle life was in its daily gifts. Kaneki feared he would never be able to speak with Saya as naturally as he was currently doing. The least he hoped from her was for Saya to keep her promise about keeping the secret of their identities. But she did more than that. She was talking to him again, almost asking permission. She reinstated their friendship and that made Kaneki grateful from the bottom of his heart.

"If it´s Uta, there´s not much to worry about. He´s well-received here at Anteiku."

"Is he also an affiliate of Anteiku?" Saya asked hopefully.

"Yes, he is," Kaneki decided. Uta was certainly an ally of theirs and Touka-chan and the Manager seemed to trust him, not to mention he was friends with Yomo-san. If there was any ghoul out there Saya could be safe around, I had to be Uta-san. As nice and insightful as he was, Uta would not hurt his friends either.

"Good," Saya replied, having answered some internal questions of her own. Coincidentally, the second she uttered that proclaiming word, the door to Anteiku opened, Uta stepping inside in his usual tribal-inspired wear and dark glasses.

"Am I late?" He questioned in a troubled tone, searching for a timepiece on the walls to recheck the hour.

"No, I arrived earlier. I had something to take care of," Saya said, doing her best to keep her emotions in check. It was as if the more she saw him, the more she became smitten with him. Uta´s intuition dictated it had something to do with Kaneki Ken, reason why he headed for a table far back but still situated near the window.

"I´ll wait for you at the table over there," he pointed at it and after greeting everyone in the shop, made his way towards it.

Saya waited for him to sit down before leaning in for Kaneki to hear her whisper:

"I think I really like him."

"He can still hear you," Touka thundered, drawing attention to ghouls´ heightened senses. Under the disapproving look of Nishiki, Touka placed the milk container a bit too harshly on the counter, spilling a few drops as to remind Saya that as far as she was concerned, she was still not welcomed there. What was Nishiki´s problem, anyways? Could he really not read the situation? It was hard enough before to have the sister of number one ghoul hunter parading in their shop but now that they all knew where they stood, Touka loathed that game they were playing like idiots. She went back to clearing out tables, the action proving out to be therapeutic for her. Next in order to that small addition from Touka´s part, Saya and Kaneki smiled secretly at one another, each of them going in separate directions; Saya to Uta´s table and Kaneki to the cupboard to take out the serving cups for coffee.

"Is everything alright now?" Uta asked Saya as she seated herself across from him, serene smile suppressing the storm inside.

"Yes, it is," she replied. Behind them, the last occupied table in the shop got vacated, another couple exiting the café in tunes of giggles and good mood. Finally the only customers left, Uta took advantage of the situation and removed his glasses, his red eyes now focused on her. His face in full disclosure, Saya instantly got reminded of the previous night and the close proximity they dwelled in until she reached hundreds of heartbeats per second. She dismissed the bashful image from her mind, relying on conversation to keep her composed.

"I´ve been meaning to ask you, is your…" she racked her brains out for the correct term, making a mental note of paying more attention to ghoul semantics from now on, "kakugan always active?"

"Does it bother you?"

"No," she hurried to answer, relieved to hear no traces of offense in his tone. "I was just curious," she added truthfully. It would be nice to walk in plain daylight downtown with him without any shades on or even find out the human color of his eyes for that matter.

"Unfortunately, I can´t control it anymore. It´s a side effect," Uta revealed, bearing an expression she could not read.

"A side-effect to…something you can´t tell me?" She asked and thus guessed the unknown factor behind his telegraphic explanation.

"For now, yes. I think it´s best we take it one step at a time."

She nodded silently, his answer making sense. Barely five minutes into their date and she had already posed an uncomfortable question. In her lap, her hands were fidgeting relentlessly, uncontrollably even. What was it making it so difficult to swallow and just act like she usually did. Could it be her brother´s subtle intervention in her afternoon cause her to talk as if she was experiencing love for the first time or was she simply too much head over heels for him?

He picked up on her anxiety and while there could be hundreds of reasons behind it, Uta felt entitled to ask. To confirm.

"You seem distracted. What is it?"

He sounded concerned and that was the last drop. She went on that date to get to know him better not inconvenience him with her worries.

"Nothing. Oh look, here´s our coffee!"

Kaneki showed up holding two cups of the delicious elixir on his tray, Saya appearing overly excited by the beverages. Unimpressed by his, Uta was not as convinced by her exaggerate effort to put the previous worry behind her.

"You can tell me," he insisted. Could she really? These were her personal concerns brought on by her blood relation to Arima Kishou thus making it unusual to share them with a ghoul. But he had saved her, had even arrived to do it the second time and also gave in to her wishes of playing with fire together and as he stood there unperturbed, confident and above all, willing to help her, Saya unsealed her lips.

"It´s my brother. He had someone follow me this afternoon and knowing him, I am inclined to believe he suspects something."

"Is that why you´re worried? You´re having doubts and perhaps you shouldn´t be here?"

"That´s not it!" She denied, a little louder than she had intended. She had thought he was testing her loyalty but upon seeing his face, she guiltily realized his inquiries were genuine. Uta was simply asking her questions, wishing to know what she really thought and felt about the entire ordeal. She was the one with the worries and so she had to be the one with the arguments. Her fingers curled into fists on the table, preparing herself for confessing a part of her past she had buried deep within herself.

"A few years ago I had my first experience with a ghoul. I left my guard down and got kidnapped by one of your own. As you can imagine, it was quite the scandal. The entire CCG was mobilized for this operation; my own father furious and losing control over everything, the best of investigators scattered around Tokyo following false leads, informants dug out of their hideouts to contribute with rumors. Only my brother remained calm," Saya paused, the dread she had lived that time coming back to her. "From the second our mother died Kishou only saw me as his responsibility so having me snatched from under his nose was unimaginable. To this day I have no idea how he managed it but he chased after me into that hellhole the ghoul kept me prisoner and dragged me out safe and sound. It was that moment that rendered him unreachable to me by disappointing him with my ignorance. I realized how affected he had really been by my kidnapping only when his hair turned white out of shock and an invisible wall was built around him to keep everyone outside."

The following words she breathed out unguarded, bearing her entire soul to her silent listener.

"Of course I´m worried. And conflicted. When I look at my brother, I remember the terror I´ve put him through and I credit myself with the change that occurred within him and yet, here I am betraying him again but I just can´t help it. I just can´t. Because being here with you makes me the happiest I´ve ever been in a while and going home, facing my family after this is extremely painful but you know, even in the echoes of my guilt, I will long to see you again. Do you understand what I´m going through?"

"Saya." She jolted, her heart racing at the first uttering of her name from his lips. She raised her head, grey eyes meeting red and the confidence she saw in them miraculously took a weight off her chest. "Your brother is not here. It´s only you, me and a cup of coffee. I extended this invitation today while being aware of the dangers involved and taking the chance regardless of how much it would complicate my existence. However, it seems to me you have just come to realize it now."

"I am not giving up nor backing out. But this is complicated and crazy and reckless."

"That is true but I am not afraid of your brother."

She frowned, as if she heard the most ridiculous thing in the world.

"You should be."

"If I start being afraid of your brother, I would also have to stop seeing you and I don´t think I am up for it now that I have changed my mind and accepted to meet with you. Should I reconsider?"

Anything but that. She scowled at the coward that she was and decided that gradually, she would have to step forward at the hem of her own life.

"No," she stated, putting out the rest of the dark thoughts in her head. She needed him, not only because of the way he made her feel but because of the courage he gave her, courage she could stem from no other person and for that, it was worth the entire world to find out she was slowly falling in love with a ghoul.

The rest of the evening was spent on small talk, optimism and no more controversy. When the clock stroked eight, they said their goodbyes to everyone at Anteiku and went down the brightly illuminated streets of the district. He had insisted to take her home despite her protests but there was no winning against him. Uta had been attentive to any troubling human scent and heartbeat and when they reached her house, the coast was clear, no person populating the residential area. Saya pondered on what they had discussed earlier between lines and smiles. She would risk it all to see him again, no matter the concerns that kept accumulating. She wanted to tell him that right before he left but a soft hand on her wrist diverted her priorities.

"What are you doing?" She asked, not really minding the contact.

"I´m giving you and your brother something to really worry about," Uta voiced out and pulled her close, his other hand entwining in her hair, directing her face up to kiss her. The scent and taste of coffee invaded her senses strongly until they all backfired on her, succumbing to that man´s overwhelming urge. Saya´s purse slipped away from her hands and fell to the ground defeated, along with what was left of her reasoning, arms numb at her sides. His lips latched onto hers commandingly and enslaving her will to his wishes, resuming her reaction to that of imitating his mouth movement, falling prey to his languid caress. He clung to her, almost holding back from crossing his imposed limit but still claiming more than she had prepared her heart for. He finally pulled away from her slowly, giving the impression the kiss was continuing, grazing cheeks against her own, absorbing her racing breath hungrily. He studied her face for any sign of complaint and when he saw none, he backed away. Not intending to stay for the aftermath nor assert the damage, Uta detached himself completely from Saya and vanished into the darkest alley of the neighborhood, leaving the young woman speechless.

She eventually picked up her purse from the ground and crossed the street on wobbly feet. At that rate, she would stop fearing her brother a lifetime sooner than predicted.

* * *

><p><strong><span>AN:** Hey guys, I´ve uploaded the next chapter! A bit late, sorry but it´s a long one! So it compensates?. Had fun with this one, it´s always nice teasing serious characters. Also, I´ve added Suzuya, I just couldn´t resist, I have a soft spot for him XD.

My followers have increased lately and I wish to thank them with all my heart, I never thought I would get such positive response with this story. Also, my gratitude to the ones who favorited me and the fanfiction.

**And now, on to the reviews!**

**Pheles-sama:** I am honored to know you have sacrificed sleep for my fanfiction but make sure you get plenty of rest from now on, sleep is very important and the fanfiction is not going anywhere! :)) But I understand your enthusiasm, I was also excited to get a review so quickly. I´m glad you liked the other characters I added, I feel like we haven´t seen much of the CCG world so I really wanted to describe it a bit more and it needed some supporting cast. Some might appear, some not, it depends on how the story flows and on how appreciated/hated they are by the readers . . Let me know what you thought about this chapter! Take care!

**Megohime of Mutsu: **Hello again! And yes, I just had to add that line, I´m all about irony in stories and this one has plenty. Poor Daichi, he has no idea his daughter has been lost to a sneaky ghoul for quite a while now XD. And I´m glad you liked the chapter even if it was a bit long, this means you´ll come round for another one again, right? *winks

**Chiharu-angel:** Greetings once more! Frankly, I thought the fanfiction base would be oversaturated with Uta stories but I was quite lucky. This fanfiction gives me the chance to explore their universe as much as I want and I get to describe characters from different perspectives which is why I´m really happy to know it has followers! Thank you so much!

**Vehement Storm:** Hi there, new reviewer! It´s your first post on my fanfiction but have no fear, I wholeheartedly welcome newcomers. Thank you for your wonderful words, it pleases me tremendously to know everyone is in character and I spend a lot of time thinking about how to write a line in way that would suit a character best so your praise is much appreciated. Hope to see your around here again. :)

**Cyleana:** Welcome back! Hope you spent that free Friday having fun :). This chapter was indeed long, I just kept writing and writing until I realized I was going at it without limit XD. I´m glad the latest update made you like Arima, even if just a little, I actually enjoy writing him. He always seems like he knows everything that goes around him and I had to portray that by having him outsmart the ghouls and everyone else, even myself! Before I wrote the chapter, I asked myself "What would Arima do if the party were to be crashed by ghouls? He would certainly know beforehand, that guy´s a legend in the making!" Until next time, keep staying positive and hope to see you again!

**wlfchen:** Hello! Thank you for commenting on this fanfiction and noticing what I´m trying to do with writing and describing everyone. Like you said, the characters´ motivation is sometimes present in the description, to make their lines plausible, you´re right! Also, thank you for liking my OC, she´s still very naïve though but that´s the best part about her and I´m glad you like the style of the story. I look forward to seeing you here again! :)

**Guest (1) :** Hi there! You´re awesome too for reviewing! Hope you liked the ´date´ and the Kaneki bonus scene, no one can really stay mad at Kaneki, he´s adorable! Plus, I need him and Saya to talk again because this will play a small part in the plot in the future but I´m not telling anything, it´s still a secret so you´ll have to continue reading to find out XD. Have a great day/evening!

**sherlaylay:** XDXD Well, before being a ghoul, Uta is a man and as we all know, he´s not as innocent as we thought he was *COUGH. Plus, being able to craft mask that suit customers just shows how observant he is and he would definitively not hold back if he had something to say, even if it puts people in the spotlight. Glad you liked the fangirling moment and hope you enjoyed their scene for this chapter*wink. I´ve added the investigators because Saya is human so she mainly has contact with humans which is why I had to describe her side of the world, with its inhabitants and history so they will continue playing an important part from now on as well. See you next time!

**Guest (2) :** Woah, this is really flattering, thank you! However, I know that there are many great writers on this writing platform and I´m simply satisfied to be a part of it all, with my skills and flaws altogether. However, thank you so much for noting my transitions, I do believe that they are the ones that make a story flow and tie the plot together impeccably. Saya as an OC still has a long way to go but I really hope people find her relatable in her worries and determination. We´ve all been at a crossroads quite a few times, haven´t we? May we talk again!^^

**Guest (3) :** Riiiiiight? He needs to watch that mouth of his, he´s too sly for his own good. :)). But part of why he´s doing it is because he wants what he wants. O.o Who am I deny him that right? Please stop by for this chapter too!

**BrokenTitanium:** Thank you very much, it´s great that Uta is liked once again! As long as I have wonderful reviewers like you guys, I will keep writing. See you in chapter 7!

**Guest (4):** I agree, Tokyo Ghoul needs more love! Which is why I am taking this fanfic seriously so it´s really nice to see yet another fan! Thank you for the review, hope to keep you entertained from now on as well! And this chapter came pretty quickly for you XD.


	7. See me as I am

**Disclaimer**:** **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7: See me as I am<strong>

Saya was not able to sleep that night. She tossed and turned, even counted sheep but that proved useless when she lost count of her numbers and had to restart the entire process. She used to never have trouble sleeping but if by any chance she did, her mother would always arrive to comfort her, sending her back to the land of dreams with the aid of a fairytale reading. Regretfully, her mother was no longer there to help and her sleeping troubles were now beyond the childish ones such as an indisposed stomach or imaginary monsters under the bed, instead, handsome ghouls with daring tendencies for ravishing her emotionally were the main issue. During the night, Saya had touched her lips tenths of times in disbelief, trying to recall how soft he felt and gentle, handling her with astonishing care.

When morning came, her mind was thoroughly intoxicated with him. She felt so happy now that the initial shock was sinking in and the discovery of her growing affection for him matured into her as her one and only truth that she could not stop smiling. In order to avoid pertinent inquires about her airy mood, Saya chose to take breakfast in her room. However, the excitement had been so intense that even eating became impossible, the first bite she took barely going past her throat and so she settled only for tea, despite her maid´s protests. Considerably inspired and most of all, in need of a productive pastime, Saya retrieved her sketchbook from her desk, along with her trusty pencils. She sketched for a few minutes before an idea occurred to her; from within the wooden chest she had laid right at the feet of her bed, she started taking out, one by one, strips of used material for inspiration. It was helpful to visualize a new design when one had palpable supplies to work with. Festive fabrics such as silk, linen and lace had been carefully arranged on the floor, the materials egressing in extravagant colors of lime, magenta, royal blue and coral. A crimson strip of velvet reintroduced Uta to her thoughts, challenging her concentration like never before. Saya really wished to see him again and apparently, the gods coveted for it also because next to her, her phone rang once signaling a received message. She stretched out for her phone, her cheeks red in anticipation. They were to meet later at his Art Studio if she was available. She did not have a spare second to rejoice about the proposition when a knock came at her door.

"Come in," Saya said.

The door slid aside, her brother entering the room steadily. Her smile froze on her face at his sight, all her anterior worries barging right into her head. The night before, their meeting was delayed since her brother had returned home later than she did, but that morning, it was undoubtedly time for Saya to face her fears.

"You didn´t come down for breakfast. Father was worried, you know how he is," Kishou said, explaining the reason for being in her room.

"I´m fine, I just wanted to laze around this morning. Plus, I feel really inspired to draw today," Saya explained, hoping that the pages spread on the floor would provide the proof for half the reason of her morning absence. Kishou sat down as well, his fingers carefully picking up some of her designs.

"Did you make these?"

Kishou´s interest in her work slightly took her off guard. "I did, actually," Saya confessed, delighted by the prospect of her brother´s admiration. In a flash, she went over to her closet and took out a baby blue dress, which she proudly presented to Kishou. "And this too, I designed and made it."

Kishou regarded it surprised, a warm smile blooming on his face. Saya was really talented, artistically-speaking. Compared to her, Kishou could not even draw a stick figure and he was never good at crafting; as he would discover later, he was more endowed in the practical side of life. His sister though, she could spend hours working on a painting or cutting meters of materials, sowing them into works of art. And that was precisely why she was so precious to him and their father and sooner or later he would find out who the masked stranger at the party was. In her talents and naiveté, Saya seemed almost ephemeral and therefore easy prey to any unbefitting man.

"It´s a really pretty dress, Saya," Kishou complimented. "Why didn´t you choose art school instead of literature, I don´t understand. Father would have accepted. He would do anything for you."

She placed the dress back into her wardrobe, her back still turned to him and she admitted, "I know." It was hard to be reminded of her father´s unconditional love for her when she was trampling on his trust by loving that ghoul. "But you see," Saya faced her brother, her mood slightly improved, "I think I´m better suited as a teacher. This is just a passion, I never thought I would do it as a main occupation even though Aunt Margo encouraged me."

"She did, didn´t she?" Kishou agreed, reminded of their days in Germany, visiting their mother´s sister. Those had been peaceful times. "The number of dresses that woman has is just outrageous."

"Exactly! She had a dress for every day of the week, I was so envious," Saya chirped, nostalgia taking over her. It was nice talking like that with her brother, flying back to those childhood years they had spent outside in rose gardens, protected by their relatives. The talk about Aaunt Margo suddenly sprouted questions long abandoned. "Why don´t we visit Germany anymore? Aunt Margo certainly misses us and we´re always welcomed there."

Kishou sighed, certain that that question had to come. "Because it´s too painful for Father. And frankly," the young man confessed, "it´s still painful for me too". Saya lowered her head, fully understanding the point her brother was making. That place had Adelisa´s essence imprinted all over it. Whenever you went in that house you could spot a treasured object in a corner, her favorite flowers in crystal vases and even her expensive perfume would reign in forgotten hallways. Traveling to that place would only make the siblings miss their mother more, the longing weighting heavy on their shoulders. No longer comfortable with the subject, Kishou arranged the sheets neatly in Saya´s notebook, intent on calling up attention to something other than artistic flair.

"Don´t be late for shooting practice today. Inspector Suzuya will attend to you this afternoon."

The change in topic had not been welcomed, especially that topic, and if anyone asked her, the words ´Suzuya´ and ´shooting´ had no place to be in the same sentence.

"I really don´t think I should be doing it, I´m sure Amon-san told you I am hopeless."

"It´s too early to conclude. You´ll have to keep practicing."

"At least assign someone else to practice with me, I don´t want that strange person near. I don´t like him," she tried negotiating, failing to win as she was about to see.

"Suzuya-kun is a very capable member of CCG and it´s good for you to experience different teaching methods."

"But he really puts me on edge, I don´t want to have anything to do with him."

"Stop behaving like a child, Saya."

And there she encountered the wall. There were several levels of bargaining with Kishou and she had just exhausted the last one. Whenever he took on that mature, resolute air around him, nothing could change his mind and all that was left was to comply with his wishes. Her fingers curled in the materials in her lap, not so quick to dismiss her stubbornness, even if he was going to hear about it much later.

A ring disturbed the silence and a flash of light illuminated her phone briefly for the second time that morning and Saya pretended not to notice. As expected, Kishou was quick to observe:

"You´re not going to check who it is?"

She made herself busy with the fabrics, stacking them on top of each other, saving time to come up with an answer.

"It´s probably one of my colleagues. She´s been pestering me to go out with her this afternoon but since I have shooting practice, it´s impossible for me to honor her invitation," she said, trying to appeal to his sense of guilt.

"You should go. Shooting practice is just an hour long, you have plenty of time to meet your colleague. I don´t think it´s healthy to stay cooped inside the house all day."

"It´s not that extreme, I did go out yesterday."

"Really? I was not aware."

_Liar, _Saya thought. Why else would that girl from the party be following her if she weren´t under direct orders from him? She wondered how much her brother knew and how.

"Still, I insist," Kishou told her, appearing as if he was trying to make amends to her but Saya knew better than that. Everything Kishou did had a manipulative characteristic to it, this case being no exception. If he planned to send someone else to follow her or tag along personally incognito, why not play the same game and give him what he wanted.

"Alright, I will go then. Why don´t you come with me? My friends are always complaining I never bring you along. You´re very popular with the female compatriots of my university, Kishou, you should join us."

"Ah, another time maybe," Kishou declined, feeling aversion towards the whole idea of having groups of girls fawning over him.

"Next time. Promise?" She asked for his word, certain she secured a free afternoon for herself, no supervision included.

"Of course," Kishou said and stood up, thus ending his morning visit to his sister. "I will see you in the evening, Saya."

"Have a good day at work, Brother."

As soon as he was gone, Saya snatched her phone to check her message from Uta:

_Bring your sketchbook. _

* * *

><p>With her sketchbook gripped tightly at her chest, Saya entered the Art Studio. She had visited that place so many times before it was becoming to feel like home to her. Every mask, every chair, every nook and cranny was compartmentalized in her memory, the studio´s entire ambience calling out to her.<p>

She found Uta working on his latest display of masks, focused entirely on placing his latest creations on stands of various sizes. His back was turned to her but Saya had no doubt he was well-aware of her presence and even the number of steps she took before reaching his spot. He finally came face to face with her, smiling invitingly. Minutes ago she was frantically worrying about what sort of expression to show to him after that unforeseen kiss but Saya understood she needn´t worry when her own lips curved into a matching beam. Everything was flowing naturally when she spent time with him; Saya had never realized love for someone could be so fulfilling. It was as if distance from him gripped something away from her heart that could only be reinstated only in his proximity. Their relationship had an unusual start, plagued by anxiety and refusal and voracity but as of late, it gradually fell into place, drawing the both of them closer into a natural mutuality. Despite of what he was, there was no longer fear nor uneasiness towards his persona, only an ever-growing affection and need to know more, touch more and feel more. As hopelessly romantic as it sounded, Saya reasoned she belonged with him, bound to discover completion in his arms only. They were at polar opposites, yes, she was aware, but that reality only famished her more; if it were him, she would allow Uta to taint every living cell in her body and mind, no matter the costs. At least, that was what she thought.

"I hope you don´t mind I suggested we meet here," Uta said instead of a greeting, checking to see if she was alright with the proposal.

"Not at all, I really like this place," she assured him. What was not to like about it? For an aspiring designer such as herself, being surrounded by masks of all forms and motifs was a great source of inspiration.

"I figured it would be better to avoid public places for a while, at least until your brother drops some of his suspicious."

"Oh, my brother is eternally suspicious," Saya chuckled. Kishou was overprotecting and it was flattering at times but frequently speaking, it was terrifying. The moment he would bug her phone with a tracking device was not too far into the future but today she was safe, she had thoroughly checked her gadget before leaving home. "But for now, we´ll settle with your studio. And don´t worry, I was careful, I changed two cabs and made sure I wasn´t followed."

Uta´s eyes locked onto hers, as if seeing her for the first time. Maybe he had misjudged her innocence and there was more to her than mindless courses of action. The fact that she was in love with him did raise some questions in regards to her mental health but then again, it raised the same questions for him. They were both in that same whirlwind of emotions, putting sentiments before logic.

"You´ve got everything covered, don´t you?"

"It´s an instinct of mine. I don´t want to expose this place, like I said, I like it here," Saya repeated, the air around cut off as Uta walked closer to her. She closed her eyes tightly, visualizing another kiss and was vaguely disappointed when he went past her to take a seat at his working table. Uta gestured for her to join him, her chair already prepared next to his. She sat down, curiously looking at the array of crafting instrument gathered on the table and even more surprised when he pried the notebook out of her hands and flipped through it with obvious interest. He made sure to allocate a definite amount of time to each of her designs, handling each page with care.

"This is better than I expected, you really have an eye for designs. Did you make some of the dresses?"

"I did, actually," Saya replied, wishing they were home in her room and therefore able to show him what she had shown Kishou that very morning. She was daydreaming of course, in her family´s eyes it was inacceptable for a man to be in her room without prior introduction, nevertheless a ghoul.

"That´s good. Then you´re no stranger to crafting," Uta said, sounding pleased.

"Not at all," Saya confirmed, wondering what the man was up to when he pulled some of the materials and instruments closer to them.

"Since there isn´t much to do here and it´s dark and confined, I thought we can collaborate on something as fellow artists." His hand also went for her notebook, placing it parallel to the instruments. "Maybe we could combine our passions together and create a mask inspired by one of your dresses. What do you think?"

Saya´s eyes lit up, enchanted by the possibilities. It was a great idea and an even better one since it was suggested by him. She would have never come up with such a concept and the fact that he took the time to think of such a collaboration simply proved how much he took her feelings in consideration, along with her occupation and talent. Most of the men she had the pleasure of dating never really cared about her side passions and opted to impress her with the conventional methods of flower offering and chocolate tempting. She nodded, enthusiasm taking over. "Alright! What do we start off with?"

First, they settled on a dress they both fancied and then sketched the outline of the mask, suggesting materials and adding various adorning elements to it. They discussed size, materials and shape and finally produced the draft while taking all suggestions into account. Between critical disagreements and surprising solutions, they did not dismiss compromises and always respected each other´s opinion, rendering the entire action of designing the mask as a triumphing success. Having finished the model, Uta bent down to retrieve something of specific shape from underneath the table and placed it in front of Saya.

"This a mold. We use this to give shape to the mask and to keep it in place while we work on it."

"Ah! Much like the pattern I use for dresses," Saya affirmed, recognizing the usefulness of the piece.

"That´s right, it´s not much different. Here, hold this end," Uta instructed Saya to grasp on to one side of the leather strip he handed her and began cutting according to the measurements they took earlier. Together, they spent the entire afternoon sowing, painting and applying decorative elements to the mask until it perfectly resembled the motif of the chosen dress. While working, they spoke about their lives, their upbringing and beliefs and by the time the mask was resting finished in Saya´s hand, she was not only holding onto something they both created but had also found out more about the problematic ghoul she was in love with.

"We did it," Saya whispered, fascinated by the colors of blue and black combined into a new leather identity. Beyond its beauty, the mask stood witness to a wonderful afternoon spent in each other´s company and the artistic level that connected the both of them. Their skill was probably the only thing they had in common yet as Saya stared into the infinite perfection they had managed to pull together, she realized that was probably all they needed.

"We did well teaming up," Uta said, equally enthralled.

"Can we display it?"

"Sure. Wherever you want."

Saya did not wait to be told twice. She left the spot besides Uta to find a proper place for their joint project. She pinpointed a great one next to a red mask, both of them complimenting each other through their vibrant colors but was slightly confounded when Uta went to remove it.

"Anywhere but there."

"What´s wrong with that stand?"

"It´s next to a custom mask for an Aogiri Tree member, I don´t believe you want it displayed next to it," Uta revealed, thinking that an explanation of such nature would be enough to quench the young woman´s curiosity. On the contrary, it did the opposite.

"Aogiri…Tree?" Saya asked, her eyebrows furrowing in contemplation. That sounded like a name attached to something but she had no clue what it represented. Uta was evenly astonished, having thought that her upbringing in the CCG world would provide a certain insight in the world of ghouls but perhaps such information was being kept from family members.

"I see your brother is very careful about the things he talks around you," He thought out loud, placing the mask as far away as possible from its initial spot. "Aogiri Tree is a ghoul organization operating in the 11th ward. They are currently expanding their influence and rumors say they want to control all districts and eliminate all investigators."

"They sound dangerous," Saya stated, distressed by how complicated matters were even among ghouls. Neither her brother nor father had spoken a word about this organization and with good reason, they were probably their main opposing force – a fact not needed to be revealed to civilians.

"They are. No one stays alive after clashing with them and they kill off both ghouls and investigators, no special treatment to either." They were a troublesome bunch and what was worse was that their members were increasing and their strength intensifying with each passing day. One needn´t have to be a genius to understand they had the potential of bringing down the apparently undefeated CCG if they mobilized specifically for it. However, that was something Saya had no use to know Uta decided, and taking her by the hand, guided her back to their chairs. Her curiosity had been thoroughly awakened though..

"But why would they do something so awful?"

What a rhetorical question to ask, even coming from her. "Because the strong prey on the weak, Saya," Uta told her, his hand pulling her close until she fell into his lap. "Don´t worry about this, it doesn´t concern you." It really didn´t, anxiety made her pretty face distort. His index finger trailed lightly on her forehead thus dispelling her frown and bringing her face closer to his, he captured her in a kiss. She conceded to his physical request, appearing less timid than the first time he tasted her. When Saya broke off the kiss, she looked at him with inquiring wide-eyes.

"You said we would take everything one step at a time."

"I tend to say many things when I´m with you and somehow, I end up disobeying all my restrictions," Uta smirked. He kissed her again, thoroughly enjoying her scent on his skin and the way her fragile body fit into his arms. If it weren´t for her, Uta would have never known how rewarding it was to wish for someone to that extent.

It required grand effort for him to retract his hands and allow her to retreat to the safety of her chair but he managed to do it in the end. As a promise to himself, he focused on the verbal part of their afternoon, exchanging opinions about art supplies and sketching more, each taking turns in experiencing each other´s craft. Even parting with her had become harder than he remembered but undeniably necessary. He also stood up when she announced she had to go, fully intending to take her home but after tenths of well-presented reasons as to why he shouldn´t, Saya explained she would rather risk taking a cab alone than have him parading with her in her residential area. They kissed again before she left, this time Saya being the one to initiate the kiss, building up courage and recharging for the time she would spend away from him. She said her goodbyes and left the studio before dark ascended completely, her assigned cab seen at the horizon, driving closer and closer to her. She reached out for her phone, certain it was full of missed calls from her brother who probably had plenty to admonish her about since her shooting practice was completely ignored for the afternoon but her fingers found nothing of the sort. She shrugged, figuring she had left it in the studio and went back inside in search for it but not before instructing the cab driver to patiently wait in the safety of his car.

* * *

><p>She left and he remained alone in the confinement of his own studio. Uta thought it would be better after she was out of sight but his ghoul nature proved him the contrary. His hunger only intensified with her absence and as experience dictated, it would only get worse. Taking steps that resembled leaps, Uta made his way to the basement, to a securely shut door which he kept secluded from the rest of the world and pulled it open. Inside, a man squirmed on the floor, his hands and legs tied painfully with rope. Kneeling to his level, Uta grabbed him by his dirty collar and swiftly removed the tape from his mouth. Gasping for air and for anything that could prolong his life even by a second, the man pleaded in arduous sobs.<p>

"Don´t do this, I beg you! Please, release me, I have people who care about me. "

"Don´t we all?" Uta inquired, the possibility of releasing the unfortunate human never crossing his mind. Mercilessly, his hand plunged through the man´s chest to extract his heart and therefore put an end to his suffering. In his earlier days, he preferred them screaming and running for their lives but **_she_** had been there just moments ago and that was the least he could do to honor their time spent together. Ever since he met her, his hunger had become insatiable once again – a direct result of his exerted self-control. He hadn´t imagined kissing her would have such a perilous effect on him. He felt he was only grazing at the surface, sampling a shell, licking the outside package of a bon-bon, forever forbidden to reach the core. It was overwhelming and unhealthy even and he was addicted to it, as harmful as it turned out to be. The first time he kissed her that evening, he had to go hunt for two healthy men in order to tame his hunger and preserve his temper, his inner ghoul taking over. And now he was doing it again. His teeth sunk into the man´s heart, tearing pieces of meat, swallowing them intact, simply shuddering at the thought of her. He wanted her so bad, in all possible ways, all ending with the same conclusion, explicitly him plunging his face into her exposed abdomen, warm with rivers of blood. He would love it and hate himself for it so much he would not know what to do afterwards. The only way to keep himself in check was to feed more, precisely after he parted with her, when his brain was intoxicated beyond measure. He was new to this, to the whole concept of loving a human being and it took incredible restraint to differentiate between love and hunger even though those two were rapidly morphing into the same thing. When his mouth was on hers he desperately wanted to nip her lips, just a bit, just to have a taste but he always stopped himself at the last second, understanding that once he drew blood, everything would be over and she would be no more. To Uta, it became clear why so few ghouls ever attempted a relationship with a human; it was insane, unsafe and ended in a bloodbath. Where would one even draw the line? He refused her the first time precisely for that reason.

But Uta was trying, struggling even to preserve their statuses intact. Saya was not food, she would never be food and he would do everything in his power to have her come to his studio numerous times in the future and smile at him in that way that rendered him speechless and unknowingly defeated at her feet. He was happy with her. Alive. Dare he say, in love. For that to continue, he would prey on the entire country if needed.

The man´s heart currently digesting in his stomach, Uta chose his arm as a main course, easily tearing it apart from the limp body. He had been so focused on his eating and conflicting thoughts that by the time he sensed her behind him, it was already too late. What was she doing back there? Had she returned to tell him something or retrieve something she had misplaced perhaps? It did not matter, he was covered in blood and she stood there traumatized. Her eyes traveled from the corpse on the floor to his bloodied hands and up to his face, her mouth opening several times and yet no words coming out. But her expression spoke plenty. Saya had entered a nightmare, sinking in a sea of red, an anchor tied to the feet that were to give away.

"What are you doing?" She managed to voice out, raspy and foreign.

"Nourishing myself," Uta replied to her pointless question, sounding a lot meaner than he intended.

"But…Kaneki," she gulped, fighting to find the right words, "Kaneki said you were an affiliate of Anteiku."

"Affiliate? That´s a rather strong word," Uta said, that answer sounding like something Kaneki Ken would say. It was no wonder those two got along well, their naiveté reached alarming levels. "They are my acquaintances, yes, but that does not mean I have the same lifestyle they do. I don´t sit around and wait for human scraps."

"Human scraps," Saya repeated, her body shaking in repulsion at how cruel the statement sounded. Kaneki told her she could trust him and so she immediately determined he was one of them, surviving on human flesh without tainting his hands with guilt and immoral crimes. She thought she was prepared for the thought of him eating humans but as he stood there painted in blood, appearing almost comfortable in it, adoring it, Saya felt sick to her stomach. He had killed someone brutally right after she left and he was finding no excuses for it and while that did make sense, it also disgusted her to the bone. What was worse was that she was still there, waiting for explanations she did not want to hear and he would not stop talking and the room would not subside in its reek of blood.

"Yes, human. When I am hungry, I hunt and feed, Saya. Or have you forgotten what I am? Have you also forgotten that while I am here eating, your kind is out there terminating the lives of my own? It´s the world we live in and you and I were supposed to be prepared for it, do you remember?"

"Yes, I do!" She cried out, confused by the unending chain of defiant questions. She closed her eyes, seeking inner willpower to get through the whole tragedy. "But that man, is he guilty of anything? Have you killed an innocent person?"

Uta shook his head, at a loss. Saya was missing the point and falling deeper into shock. "I don´t know, I don´t do a background check on my victims. If they cross my path then we can safely assume it´s not their lucky day."

"But killing him just like that, without even knowing…"

"Then why don´t you tell me? Here, give it a try," Uta prompted, presenting Saya with the severed arm. "See for yourself if he tastes innocent or not."

She stared at him awe-struck, unable to believe her ears. What was that side of him she did not know? That predator fragment looming at the back of his eyes, his long limbs which concealed brute strength beyond understanding, the blood trickling thinly at one side of his mouth, mocking the earlier feeling of safety she had around him – all of it was pounding Saya into the ground, weak and disoriented. He neared her, the bloodied arm raised to her chin and when she imagined that still fresh arm making contact with her skin, an old-suppressed instinct of hers kicked in and she forcefully slapped him. Her palm across his face, his head turned on impact, waking him up from his momentary distress. It was a pity. Only minutes ago he was congratulating himself for sustaining the situation under control and now had lost composure when the state of affairs was reversed. Why was it that humans always turned so hysterical and acted as if they were the only ones to get hurt?

"I´m sorry," she breathed out instinctively, momentarily fearing his reaction. She had prepared herself for retaliation since in that situation, provoking someone would come at a cost but he simply stepped away from her, an expression of supreme sadness compressing his features.

"Don´t look at me like that, Saya. I would never hurt you, that much I can promise."

Deep down inside, she knew. Saya believed him but no longer had the capacity to listen to him nor be in the same room with him for that matter. She sensed a feeling of deja-vu as she turned to leave, run actually, stumble outside into the open air whereas Uta released his frustration on the dead member he held in his hand, throwing it at the nearby wall. He drew in a long breath, taking a few seconds to calm down and tucking a strand of hair behind his pierced ear, he went to pick up the abused arm from the floor.

"It´s not like me to waste food."

At the exact instance, Saya jumped into the cab, stating to the impatient driver the address she was to be brought at. As the engine started and the car drove off, Saya burst into tears.

* * *

><p>She was probably not coming. Suzuya had spent two hours staring at the ceiling seated on a bench in the silence of his assigned training room. He had been waiting and waiting and for once he made it in time for his task but no one showed up. Eventually, someone came in.<p>

"Suzuya-kun, what are you doing here?" Inspector Shinohara asked, his hands crossed over his chest.

At the sight of his partner, Suzuya helped himself up with the aid of his elbows, his feet dangling lightly at the side of the bench.

"Waiting for Arima-san´s sister. We were supposed to practice shooting," the younger male answered in a tone of boredom. He hadn´t been exactly ecstatic about the news but he could not refuse doing a favor for Arima-san.

"Two hours ago. What are you still doing here?" The investigator inquired while taking his spot next to Suzuya, his tall built towering over Suzuya´s slightly modest one.

"Weeellllll, I thought she might show up. I don´t want to disappoint Arima-san."

"I see," Shinohara pondered. "Could something have happened?"

Suzuya glanced over to his partner who could swear saw a segment of delight in his eyes at the thought of that. "Probably not. I think she doesn´t like me, Shinohara-san. Too bad, I was planning to be extra nice to her today," the young man purred, causing Shinohara to doubt Arima´s judging skills. Suzuya was a good kid if you got to know him but still very raw around the edges and consequently daunting to someone as refined and innocent as Arima´s sister. Whatever that other special investigator was planning, Shinohara could not even begin to understand.

"She´ll come around," Shinohara smiled, genuinely believing in Suzuya´s power to make friends. "That aside, if you´re still waiting here doing nothing, at least do it while reading these," he instructed, placing a stack of files on the boy´s knees. "You need to stay updated on the binge eater case."

"Ehhh? But this is boring, Shinohara-san. More importantly, when am I getting my very own quinque? I can´t keep using knives on ghouls, it´s not that fun."

"That´s why you have to read the files, Suzuya-kun. The sooner you do, the sooner you´ll get promoted and rewarded with a quinque. It´s pretty reasonable, right?"

"How about this?" Suzuya suggested, leaning in and bumping shoulders with the older man. "You read the files and when we´re on the battle field you just point and I´ll go kill."

Shionhara sighed, his bear-size hand patting his protégée on the head with sincere affection."I know you hate this Suzuya-kun, but it doesn´t work this way." In order to show the boy he was not being left off the hook, he opened one of the files. "You need to be informed about everything that´s happening in our district and the rest as well. You have to be observant, intuitive and always be one step ahead of everyone or else we´ll never be able to catch this binge eater. Though," he paused, "she´s probably long gone from this ward."

From within the folder, Rize´s picture glistened under neon lights, reflecting tones of purple from her long, loose hair.

"How so?" Suzuya inquired, suddenly interested in Shinohara´s cryptic theory.

"I don´t know yet. Some things aren´t adding up."

Suzuya peeked down at the picture once more, noticing Rize´s smile. It reminded him of his Mama and of the same way she used to grin when he was a scrapper at her own slaughter house. Thanks to her, it was extremely easy for Suzuya to identify ghouls and all it took was precise scrutiny. Ghouls always appeared to be the most natural of them all, simply on top of the situation, with no care in the world.

They looked too sweet, too innocent. Too human.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello everyone! Here´s a chapter for you guys, featuring mostly Uta and Saya. A lot of drama with these two, eh? But really now, this is how relationships are, they have their ups and downs, right? Right? . And if we think about it, Uta eats humans which would be unsettling to people, or so I like to think. You can imagine it´s not something to deal with easily nor accept which is why it makes it even more difficult for Saya, who comes from a family of investigators, to be totally on board with it. If only her father knew she is in cahoots with a ghoul! And yes, I used ´in cahoots´, I love old-fashioned English! XD

To me, their nature is a big deal so I wanted to emphasize it in the story too.

And I suppose we have the power of love at play because from the way I see Uta, he would not have the necessary patience to deal with all of this. I would rather see him saying something among the lines of: "You know what sweetie? The hell with everything, this is too complicated! You stay put right there and after I finish eating this dude over here, I promise to make you my second meal for the day, oki-doki?" Oh Uta, you´re so crafty (see what I did there?). Ok, enough lame jokes for today XD.

**And I reached more than 100 followers and got myself 70 faves, whooohooo! Thank you everyone! *hands cake and needy hugs***

**And now for my lovely reviewers!**

**splitice:** Hello again! You have my sincere gratitude for stopping by again and reviewing, it means a lot to me to know my readers´ opinions. I hope you´ll stay with me and this story for the long run and may I see your name in my review box again. Take care!

**MuffinLord13:** Thank you! 3 I´m sending you love as well, see you next time too! Though….*cough….after this chapter, who knows? :))

**Pheles-sama:** Well, this time I updated earlier, I managed to find the time so you have no excuse to go to bed late missy! XD No, I´m kidding, you can sleep whenever you want. And they eventually had to kiss, all that pent-up energy between the two, I was glad to get it out of the way. You´re right, they need to be really cautious and be careful where they go and who they meet. Kishou did not see the kiss fortunately; if he had he would have shot Uta from the terrace XD so Uta dodged a bullet there. Literally. Anyways, it´s great to know Suzuya´s addition is appreciated, I like writing him though he is a bit challenging. But that only makes me write him more. Talk to you later!

**Chiharu-angel: **Thank you, my dear reviewer! How about this chapter, did it meet your expectations? I hope to hear from you again!^^

**Flatwaffles29:** I understand completely, even in real life some people are not what we thought they were so having the same outcome in a manga was a great choice for me. When I first saw Uta, I thought he was there in the story just to fit the cool character pattern so imagine my surprise in the end when I realized it was more to him than met the eye! You and me both, I think we like this version of him better! Glad to know you like how the story is progressing and thank you so much for the compliments, they warm my heart! I look forward to hear your opinion on this chapter. :)

**wlfchen:** Don´t be speechless, you have to tell me your thoughts about the latest chapter too! ^^ I thought Saya needed some training, especially after what happened at the party. Plus, Kishou is manipulating her, taking away the reasons as to why she can´t protect herself from a ghoul if the case arises. And you´re right, she´s not that naïve as the story portrays her, she´s just really trusting of people and never faced a crisis on her own since she has people around her to carry the burden. She will have character development and won´t stay as ignorant as she is today, I can promise you that. Thank you so much for your wonderful words, just as you´re waiting for a new chapter each week, I´m also waiting for a review from you in my mail inbox so once again, thank you!

**sherlaylay:** Aww, you´re perfect for being so honest and generous with your review! Many thanks, really. You´ve been with me since the beginning so I can´t tell you how happy I am to know this chapter was right up your alley! I was a bit unsure about how well I´ve managed to grasp Suzuya´s character his quirks and all but now that you and others have assured me it was good, I can finally relax :)). There will be some complications in Uta and Saya´s relationship but it´s no fun otherwise, they have to make some sacrifices if they want to be together. Fingers crossed you like this chapter too, milady!

**Megohime of Mutsu:** Hello dear, welcome back! :) Her brother is very worried, he is afraid some mean man is going to take his sister away from them though he has no idea that man is a ghoul. I guess you never think it could happen to you nor a family member so Kishou is not quite there yet, he´s not sure of what he really knows. And since they are siblings, Saya and Kishou share some common traits, though I want her to be more like her mother. Kishou learns and imitates what Adelisa taught while Saya subconsciously inherits it, if that makes sense? Oo. And yes, Uta scored that night! He can be both a gentleman and a dog! As for his eyes, it is never explained in the manga but I have my own theory which I will explain later in a chapter. I mentioned it in my story because I believe it´s normal for people to ask that sort of question, Saya would certainly want to know the reason why his kakugan is always active. And I do too! :)). Catch you later!

**VictoriaPie:** Can I have some of that pie to go with the review as well XD? Thank you for your thoughts on the chapter, I´m also happy to know you´re liking Saya´s character. And yay for Suzuya, I have big plans for that boy! Just don´t spoil the others, your predictions always turn right! *wink-wink Talk to you again and take care!

**keepitrel:** Hello there, welcome to the story! Uta is such a smooth operator, sometimes I get overwhelmed by how much freedom this character has. And Amon, well, life on the job is not that easy! And he´s going to have his hands full with Akira XD. Hope to see you again!

**SchokoDelphin:** Thank you very much, I shall keep writing! Please continue to support me in the future as well!^^

**Hikiri:** Greetings my new reviewer! We have more surprises on the way! And you´re absolutely right, these girls are so fortunate, it makes me wanna jump in the fanfiction world! Luckily for me you liked the kiss scene, I feel so awkward writing these! I want to make them classy and in the end I get lost in the process and when I re-read what I wrote I´m terribly confused. But if it did the job, I am pleased! May we speak again! Take care!


	8. Love is blind

****Disclaimer**:****** I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8: Love is blind<strong>

Keeping things as per usual was of utmost importance. In the several days that had followed the latest ´incident´ in Uta´s Art Studio, Saya did her best to act normal. She ate habitually, she socialized standardly and acted in conformity with her regular behavior. On the surface, nothing was out of the ordinary. On the inside, however, she thought she was losing her mind. Every waking second of her day was spent meditating on what had happened and on analyzing her reactions, his words, her tolerance to his black sense of humor and the manner in which the entire scene had unfolded. Saya´s body went about normally with her daily activities while her brain rotted with questions regarding her half-assessed determination and the uncertain bleak future that currently loomed over the two of them. In order to release some of her frustration she diligently attended shooting practice under the watchful eye of Investigator Amon Koutaru and while she was nowhere near acceptable, she was making a progress. If the target was immobile, she could hit it correctly on a good day.

It was not even necessary for her to go to such lengths to try and hide her distress since lately, her father and brother were barely spending any time at home. It seemed that from the moment Inspector Shinohara and Suzuya were transferred to district 20, a war had unleashed in district 11 from where said Aogiri Tree organization was pulling the strings and wiping out CCG members at an alarming speed. A state of danger had been spread around Tokyo and citizens were advised to exercise caution and keep away from exposed areas. Investigators from all districts were mobilized to collaborate and put an end to the unexpected rise against humanity, summoned to participate in regular meetings to discuss annihilation strategies and thus keep the rest of the people in the dark about what was really happening. That particular fact was causing Saya to feel like an even terrible person that she usually thought she was. She hadn´t even spared a second of thought to her family; they were out there fulfilling their duties, her father, retired as he was still contributing with ideas and her brother risking his life on the battlefield, trying to keep humanity safe and all she could think about was Uta and her feelings getting hurt. When did she become that person, absorbed in her life only and deaf to other people´s righteous teachings?

She walked over to her cheval floor mirror, her hands gripping its sides as she stared into it and miserably asked her reflection:

"Who are you?"

She did not recognize herself, moreover, she hated the blonde young woman that was gazing back at her in helpless anguish. That woman was not her. She was not someone to disregard her family´s wishes nor lie shamelessly to people´s faces. She was not someone to fall in love and then retreat at the smallest of troubles either. When the answer failed to reflect and the face on the other side gave no sign of illumination, Saya pushed the window backwards, the smooth surface breaking into hundreds of pieces at her feet. She did not even flinch though the breaking sound had been loud and sharp. She even hoped that some of the shards would rebound into her skin and wake her up from the deep sleep she so defensively fell into. But there was no such generosity from physics, only a wild storm of steps mounting the staircase as a female maid barged into the room to assess the damage.

"Arima-san!" The maid shouted in horror, taking in the confusing sight in front of her. Her employer´s daughter was just standing there in the middle of the room, passively looking down at the broken mirror. "Are you alright?!"

Saya resorted to silence, not struggling much to come up with a plausible explanation.

"What could have happened? Did you trip?" The maid asked, herself understanding that such an idea made no sense.

Saya watched how Maya, their loyal servant who had been with them for six years ran to her side, carefully inspecting Saya´s dress and hands for any traces of blood or cuts. Maya was such a kind-hearted woman, Saya had liked her from the first day she had been introduced to her, thrilled to have someone with a name similar to hers in the house. When she was younger, they even composed a song about their names, Saya wondered if her maid still remembered. She used to tell Maya everything but time polished her to act more lady-like and keep her troubles to herself. She wanted so much to tell her about everything but could she? How could she tell her that she was in love with someone who fed on humans to survive and who would devour her on the spot if given the chance? Just the thought of Maya getting hurt by a ghoul was unacceptable, she was a good woman, who had her own family and could not harm anyone, for no matter the reason. Yes, ghouls had to eat to survive but the ones at Anteiku at least tried to blend in with humans, adapt to their living style, even force themselves to eat people who were already dead and yet Uta was not one of them. He did not fast, he did not wait, he simply went and killed. Tomorrow it could be Maya. A friend from school. The librarian who was always nice to her and recommended only the best of books. What was she to do? Arrange a schedule so that she would never again walk in on him eating, give him a list with all the people that were off limits, or better yet, let him loose in a prison facility where murderers deserved to be livestock for ghouls? She understood the error of her ways but at the same time, she could not forsake him for it. Uta was different, her heart screamed it over and over again, covering the voice of reason. And to him, she was different too, wasn´t she? He never hurt her, she never felt unsafe with him. He risked his life to save her and went against his nature to try to be with her, no matter the sacrifice.

"This won´t do," the maid decided, inspecting the shards on the floor. "It´s best I take you downstairs and come clean this up afterwards. Alright Arima-san, come along and please watch your step."

Saya allowed herself to be guided from the pile of shards, toeing with tenacity over the harmful floor. Still holding her mistress´ hand, the maid accompanied Saya in the salon, calculating which broom would better do the cleaning job. Something caught her attention as she helped her mistress take a seat on the couch and thinking it would probably cheer her up, Maya handed her a bundle. Saya took the bundle with inquiring eyes.

"Someone brought this for you a while ago, Arima-san. It´s lovely, I couldn´t help but check, you know the rules," Maya explained, invoking the Arima house protocol which stated that all packages were to be inspected before given to the recipient. With graceful gestures, Saya removed the silk cloth to reveal a familiar object. Her eyes widened as she recognizes the mask she and Uta had crafted together. She jumped to her feet, urgently asking the other woman.

"Who brought this?"

Maya brought her finger to her chin, contemplating her answer. "Hmm, a young man, he was wearing dark shades so I don´t know if I´ve ever seen him before. He was a bit scary though, is he one of your acquaintances, Arima-san?"

Saya answered the question with an inquiry of her own.

"When did he bring it?"

"A few moments ago, miss. I was just closing the door when I heard something break upstairs and hurried over."

Without waiting to hear the rest, Saya ran to the exit, grabbing a coat on her way out. Distressed, the maid followed her until the driveway, shouting after her all the way.

"Arima-san, where are you going!? What am I supposed to tell your father when he returns!? Arima-san!"

It was already too late for Saya to elucidate her sudden leave, her feet had already put quite a distance behind her. All she knew was that she had to catch up to him. She had to reach him.

Saya had no idea for how long she ran or where she was headed but her feet kept going, chasing after an invisible thread. Finally, a few feet in front of her, a silhouette stood immobile, waiting. Hooded and armed with his dark shades, Uta removed his concealing items to face her properly. She stopped at a safe distance, gasping for air.

"Are you out of your mind?" She burst out annoyed. "What are you doing out on the streets in my own neighborhood when investigators are out hunting for your lives at this very moment?"

"I couldn´t stay away," Uta spoke, that calm, undeniable tone of his breaking through Saya´s offensive. "I tried for a few days but when I thought about you finding ways to cope with the distance and choosing to never see me again, I knew I had to come." Her heart skipped a beat at his answer and she took a step back, her body still trying to fight the battle her heart had lost. She had missed him so much. It took inhuman strength to stand aside, chain herself to the ground to prevent her impulse to run to him and embrace him, filling the hole that had been dug into her core. She had worried for the same reasons as well. Judging from the way matters were left off, Saya was conscious of possibly having lost Uta forever and that fact wrecked her from the inside. She had stopped herself from flying over to his Art Studio and apologizing more times than she thought reasonable but her conscience had stopped her, the one he was so skillfully corroding at remarkable speed.

"I thought about what you truly are to me Saya. I realized you were the exception from that first day you stepped into my studio and with that beautiful face of yours made me think that if I were human, there would be nothing stopping me from wanting to know you. I don´t understand how you did it but you crawled under my skin and now the thought of hurting you is unbearable to me."

She bit her lip as to block any disobeying words from leaving her mouth. Uta never held back on speaking his mind fact which brought her to the brink of shatters quicker than anticipated. He looked slightly worn-out, his shoulders slouching – a child confessing his remorse.

"And I have hurt you. With you, I can see it´s possible to hurt a human being in so many ways, not only physically, and for that I am sorry, Saya. And up till now, I have never been sorry in my entire life."

Saya was one to get emotional and affected by what was told to her and having him say those words delivered the finishing blow.

_What have you done to me?_ Saya wondered desperately. It took just one glimpse of him, one moment to ruin the fortress of reason she had built for herself and have him come crashing in, dragging her away in his tainted world. How weak she was; she used to credit herself with more strength in the past but he always managed to exterminate her reposting instincts. That weakness that people manifested in love only was so dangerous and so fearful, it changed people entirely. She had seen it in her university colleagues, in friends and even in her own father who was capable of bringing the moon to her mother´s feet when Adelisa was still alive. Was she now one of them too? One of those brainless people who favored their heart before their mind? She must have transitioned to their side sometime between selfish wishes and furious attempts to pluck him out of her brain. Her entire body trembled and Saya was certain he knew but he did nothing in that respect. For that, she took the first step in coming closer to him, the proximity blessing her with the needed will to speak.

"I am confused," Saya began. "I thought I understood and that I was able to get past the fact you feed on humans but I was wrong. I still find it difficult to accept. That image of you…" she searched for her words, her hands gesturing in the air aimlessly until she gave up on filling in that particular part, "it woke me up. It made me revise my own humanity and at this instant, it´s testing me to see how far I´ll go and I´m afraid of what I´ll find waiting for me. I…I don´t know how to face other people or how to live my life anymore. It´s no longer easy to spot right from wrong and I can´t even look at myself in the mirror without questioning my sanity."

She paused for a bit, glancing over to him. His eyes were slightly downcasted, deplorably listening to what she was saying. Her intention was not that of saddening him, the expression he had worn on that bloody night coming back to haunt her once again but she convinced herself Uta deserved the truth.

"I wish there were someone to tell me what to do. But I´m the only one who can help, I´m that person who can come up with an answer and that person is repeating over and over again that I cannot be without you. It´s too late for me to draw back and close this chapter."

Saya hoped her words could transpire at least a fragment of her sincerity and prove her pledge to stand by him as long as he also stood by her because that was all she could offer. For him she was betraying her family and human friends and disregarding common sense. She was turning blind to his need for human flesh and focusing on her greed to have him for herself instead. He must have read something in her eyes since his following action was that of closing the remaining distance between them and address her in a tone as serious as she had never heard him use before.

"I´m sorry. I have forgotten that I am not the only once making sacrifices in this."

"Is it problematic being with me?"

"No," Uta lied, avoiding to reveal the chilling thoughts he occasionally had when she was within arm´s reach. Encouraged by her lowered defenses, Uta placed his fingers on her neck, at the crossroads of arteries where blood pumped at its fullest. With such a fragile neck, it would take minimum effort to snap it and therefore end her inner pain but what purpose would that serve except for intensifying his own turmoil. "I´ll try to hold back from now on, at least until you come to terms with it," Uta found himself promising, amazed at how much she controlled his true self. She raised her head to look at him expectantly, reason why Uta stated something he never thought he would live to utter out loud.

"If there is someone in this world who is worth a lifetime of abstinence, it must be you."

Much like a curse that was lifted, Saya felt entitled to break free of her restraints and plunge into Uta´s arms, her hands grasping onto his shirt instinctively. It did not matter if he truly meant what he said or not, just the fact that he spoke such words aloud was enough to reassure Saya she took the right decision in offering her heart to him. Unfailingly, his arms also draped around her, pulling her closer into the embrace. She felt like home, finally, after a long, tiresome journey.

"I´m not going back yet. Let´s head downtown," Saya commanded, having seized the right to monopolize him for the entire day, if possible.

He had no option but to comply and follow her around coffee shops and popular dating places. He placed the shades back in place and indulged in her itinerary. She looked happy and Uta gave in to her every whim, certain she was trying to compensate for the lost time they had been apart in the last few days. At one point he entwined his fingers within her own, their hands connecting in heath and affection. Matters were not resolved yet but for the time being, Saya wanted that day to be her own. She was at ease once again having Uta by her side and there was absolutely nothing that could ruin her day. Nothing.

"Arima-san!" A voice rang through the crowd of people. Saya remained paralyzed in place as she recognized the voice, dread creeping into her heart as investigator Amon Koutaru made his way to them, his face ever so alert. She tried her best to shield Uta from his sight yet with said man towering over her with at least a head, there was no point to her effort.

"Amon-san, what a coincidence! Are you on your way to work?" Saya asked, attempting to sound jovial. Amon smiled politely, assessing the situation.

"As a matter of fact, I am. And you, Arima-san?" Amon inquired, sharp eyes already scanning Uta mercilessly. "Is he bothering you?" The investigator asked, certain that Arima´s sister would not be seen in the company of such a suspicious individual out of her own free will.

"Oh, not at all," Saya hurried to reply, expecting to hear that question from Amon. "We´re just strolling around," she explained but lost all hope of escaping the certainty of interrogation when Amon eyed Uta ardently, fully intent on deciphering him.

"State your name," Amon addressed Uta, adopting his emotionless face – the one he so often used at work for ghoul interrogations.

"Amon-san," Saya intervened yet Amon chose to ignore her.

"Uta."

"Uta and?"

"Amon-san…"

"Just Uta."

"What district are you from?" The nerve that man had, playing games with him. And what was it with so many tattoos and piercings, was that truly fashionable nowadays? It was because people like him were allowed to profane their bodies in such vulgar ways that society was going downhill. Did Arima-san like those types of men? Maybe that book he read last week in the train was not so far-fetched after all and women really did like bad boys the most.

"Please, Amon-san," Saya tried for what felt the hundredth time that minute, seeming to lose patience faster than Uta was. In fact, he appeared rather dispassionate, answering the questions with exercised ease, as if he had done it before and as if he was in no real danger though Saya knew better.

"Fourth ward."

"Your line of work?"

"Amon-san!" Saya shouted, finally losing control over Amon´s daring inquires. Both men turned to look at her, surprised by her lung capacity. She cleared her throat, going back to her softer, less startling tone. "I don´t appreciate you bothering my friends, Amon-san. Has he done anything to be so harshly questioned?"

"Ah, no, Arima-san, you see," Amon began explaining yet was briefly cut off by the young woman.

"Then it´s settled! We´ll go back to our business and we´ll let you get back to work," Saya deliberated as she grabbed Uta by the hand and dragged him away from the investigator´s sight. She could not risk having Amon catch a glimpse of Uta´s eyes and unmask both of them on the spot. "It was nice seeing you, Amon-san," Saya sent her goodbyes after which she merged with Uta into the crowd.

"Arima-san!" Amon called out to her, striving to catch a better look of that man. Something about him just rubbed him the wrong way and Arima Saya´s urge to leave as quickly as possible did not help.

_What was it that you said in these cases, Mado-san? Instinct, right?_

* * *

><p>Most of the investigators were already seated in the conference room when Amon Koutaru joined the gathering, minutes before it started. He found a spot next to Shinohara who began briefing him on the details of the meeting, his attention distributed between the younger investigator and his partner, Suzuya Juuzou. Suzuya was also seated and Amon realized that such fact could be accomplished only due to Shinohara´s influence. Amon scanned the room carefully, pinpointing the center figures of the event. Despite the situation being dire, it was undoubtedly worrisome to see investigators such as Arima Kishou and Iwao Kuroiwa participate; their presence almost always inspired urgency. Locking eyes on Arima, Amon was reminded of Saya and of the questionable character she was with. Should he say anything to Arima? Was it even his business? His thoughts were interrupted briskly when Washuu Yoshitoki walked over to the front and declared the meeting open.<p>

When Washuu stepped on the main floor, everyone in the room stopped their chattering and dedicated their full attention to their superior. A well-bred leader, Washuu earned his respect through memorable achievements and hard work, never once sullying his father´s name. As the son of the current Chairman of CCG, Washuu administrated the organization admirably. Before he orated to his audience, the Bureau Director stretched his neck in order to encompass the entire room with his eyes.

"Greetings. Firstly, I would like to thank you all for assembling here today," his noble voice resonated throughout the four walls of the room. "As you may have correctly assumed, we are currently gathered to address the disgraceful issue of ghoul infestation in the 11th ward."

At the sound of that, a few inspectors murmured in agreement only to be silenced by Washuu´s thundering exposition.

"We have underestimated the organization which goes by the name of Aogiri Tree and as a consequence, many of our valuable men have died in the fight to keep the ward at peace. Our inadequacy ends today." The director declared. "Our information on Aogiri had been scarce but with the helpful contribution of our team member, Special Investigator Marude Itsuki, we have established that indeed, this organization is led by none other than the One-Eyed King and presided by notorious ghouls such as Tatara and Noro. Jason is also part of their hierarchy which is why, as of now, we shall proceed with excessive care."

The ill-famed names of legendary ghouls stirred the crowd, many investigators discussing the truth of such news. Amon himself became restless, Jason´s name surfacing only bad memories. If only he and Mado-san could have succeeded exterminating him right then on the spot. He was biting more than he could chew, Amon was highly aware of that; Jason was not a ghoul you could kill off that easily.

"Due to recent events, I have decided to leave matters in the hands of Marude-san who will lead the liberation of the 11th ward and restore our dominance in the area. We shall hold another meeting before starting the operation and we shall spend the remaining days devising the best strategy for the highest success rate. It goes without saying that civilian evacuation is our main priority."

"How many men will be dispatched for this operation?" One of the inspectors raised his hand to deliver the question. Prepared for all inquiries, Washuu replied.

"One hundred or more, depending on our tactics. Many of you present here today will most probably be a part of it."

"Have the ghouls settled on a base?" Another inquired.

"They have, yes. The central mall in the district is, as of today, under their control."

"What do we tell the people? They will want to know what´s going on." Even more inspectors contributed.

"And they shall," Washuu said. "We´ll hold a press conference and inform the masses over the operation plans and advise them to cooperate by staying safe and clear of the afflicted area. Further questions will be answered by Marude-san. Please," Washuu invited Marude to take the stage and as he neared the board, Marude´s burning confidence took over, promising the success of the entire operation.

Amon was no longer listening. He leaned back in his chair, pondering over how risky that operation was going to be. It was the first time to experience a head-on war with ghouls and something told him this was only the beginning. Lives were sure to be lost in the fight, friends buried but never forgotten. However, Amon was intent on making sure the opposing side would lose more than what they were going to sacrifice and he would permit no troubling feelings to weaken his resolve the way they did when fighting that eye-patch ghoul. What was it that he said? Not to turn him into a murderer? What a strange thing to say. All ghouls were murderers. And he was going to pass judgment.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hey guys! How are you? Thanks for the awesome reviews, I got so many for this chapter, you are all spoiling me. I´m lucky there is such interest in this fanfiction which is why I am doing my best to post a chapter regularly for you. This chapter takes place just before the raid in district 11, the one where Suzuya crashed Marude´s precious motorcycle if you recall XD. Fun episode, especially Marude´s reaction :)). And I just realized I screwed up Akira´s timing, I´ll have to go back to that chapter to fix it.

**Special thanks to my dear reviewers!**

**Megohime of Mutsu:** Hey there, it's so nice to see you here again! Thanks for the review, it's always appreciated, you have no idea how happy I am when I see reviews from my followers! And Saya had it coming, she only saw the pretty side of their relationship and I did not want to keep her in the dark for too long. I have "big" plans for this story and with this chapter, it's going back on track with the anime/manga, which, in my opinion, makes it really exciting. See you next time!^^

**Hikiri:** Hello and welcome back! Thanks for taking the time to write such a long review! You raise quite the valid point, we can't ask ghouls to feed off dead humans or deny their nature but then again, we neither can pretend everything is alright just because they are better life forms. Everyone has the right to fight for their lives. An important detail is that many ghouls, unlike humans who try to shorten the suffering of animals, actually enjoy the thrill of killing humans. In my opinion, this is why Mado somehow correctly assumed they don't have the same level of emotions that humans do (his wife's death played an important part in this).Your premise is very good actually and I agree with it but we can't apply it to Saya just as we can't apply it to everybody else because humans are different and they think about matters differently. I don't believe Saya is capable of such noble thoughts as yours, she's simply outgrown by her inability to stomach the facts and therefore acts accordingly. She is extremely conflicted at the moment because unlike regular people, she is there on the other side of the fence, in the front lines of ghoul extermination due to her birth in the Arima family. Yes, Uta has to eat humans to survive but Saya does not and this is where the relationship becomes difficult. I tried to show the challenges of being in a relationship with a ghoul and at the same time, I did not want to portray Saya as this brainless young woman who falls in love and nothing matters anymore. I wanted to add some depth to her. .

Once again, thank you for gifting me this detailed and challenging review, I had fun reading it and replying to it. Hope to talk to you again!

**Pheles-sama:** (This comment contains SPOILERS)

I'm happy you think this chapter was interesting, I gave it a lot of thought. First of all, I am a bit sad to see that so many people judge Kishou harshly. I don't see him completely emotionless when he's not fighting ghouls. One of my reviewers (AznPuffyHair, if I remember correctly) once commented that Arima is able to be so good at killing ghouls because it is his job and not because he hates his enemies and I completely agree! There is a certain calm to how Kishou dispatches ghouls, as if he has to do it but he doesn't enjoy it, not the way Mado did at least. I realized how melancholic and dutiful Kishou is when Kaneki saw him for the first time and he thought Kishou/the view before him was beautiful. Kaneki knew he was going to die but since it was going to happen by Arima's hands, he felt peaceful. I guess this is why I love Kishou so much and I can´t hate him for ending Kaneki. He just sees the bigger picture.

As for the scene between him and Saya, he is not very interested in her dresses but he wanted to check on her, something like: "I could care less about your dresses Saya but I care about you and this is why I am here joining your tea party. So that I can read you, see what you're up to and if you're doing anything dangerous". That's why I said in that chapter that whatever Kishou does, has "a manipulative trait to it". But don't worry, these cute scenes between siblings are practically over, the real conflict starts now! :))

But I seem to do it right with the date! Those two deserve time spent together or else the relationship can´t evolve. You imagined the date very well and you also understood Uta as a character, I have the same opinion about him as you do. Uta wears the real mask, that´s why his own mask does not have a face and he´s called No Face. Quite fitting for him, right? The fact that you considered necessary for Saya to have a taste of Uta´s real nature is very satisfying to me, it means I have achieved my goal of keeping him in character, for that chapter at least. Thank you again and I really hope to read another thoughtful review as yours! Take care!^^

**BabyShinji: **Hi there, it´s so nice to see a review from you! I´m with you on wanting to make those two interact more but Uta needs to keep himself in check or he´ll end up eating Saya and that´s bad. Very bad XD. And conflicted is good, welcome to my rollercoaster of emotions. Please come again! :)

**sherlaylay**: I´m so used to seeing you post reviews on each chapter and I still get excited each and every time! You´ve got Uta´s psychology down, you are already aware of his good points and bad points and that makes it even better for a fanfiction writer to see his readers are perceptive about every little detail, good job! Thank you for analyzing the relationship between Uta and Saya and bringing out what really makes those two tick. Reading your review made me think Saya is now a person of her own, a real character with her own needs and desires and for that I thank you! And fist pump FTW, you and me both! No matter how big the shock, she had to snap, Uta is no longer a stranger to her (well, not in the human-eating aspect). This chapter was about reconciliation. I gave them a few days off but not for long because Uta is selfish like that. It´s funny but, despite all that he is (in the anime AND manga) I somehow can still see him utter those words aloud to someone he would care about. I think I´m one of the few who sees that side of him but I hope I have managed to make it just a bit genuine. Let me know your opinion about the latest chapter. Take care!

**VictoriaPie:** I think I overate. So MANY pies! XD. Thank you for the review, those are my thoughts exactly! Quite often people fall in love with villains or ghouls in this case and they forget the bitter part of the deal. So happy to see you used the word ´reality´ for my fanfiction because I was intent on keeping a realistic feel to it. All relationships have their problems and one with someone from another species makes it even more challenging. Catch you later!^^

**(Guest 1):** Your review just made me blush, too much praise! :)) But I sincerely thank you. If I can make people excited for a new chapter then I am also extremely happy, there is nothing more I could wish for. It´s very considerate of you to notice the effort I put into my words and the time I allocate to post a new chapter, I´m very fortunate to have wonderful people like you be part of this. Your encouragement is well-received, believe me! Hope to get to talk to you again!

**wlfchen:** Welcome back! How lucky of me to see you in my review section again! I know how hard it is to juggle university assignments and job hunting, you barely have any time left for yourself so here, have another bonbon :))! Saya is a magnet for trouble and giving who she is, there will be problems in the future for dating that dashing ghoul but she just couldn´t resist! It was traumatizing for her to see Uta eat another human; it´s one thing to imagine it or think about it and it´s a completely different matter to witness it. My plan is to make her slightly stronger or at least not that wimpy, she´s always been this aristocrat who had no idea what´s going on around her. I think she would get along well with Tsukiyama if he were human, they might have some things in common. They both like Kaneki :)) As always, you´re very welcome to leave a review and share your opinion. Good luck with everything and get some rest when possible!

**Chiharu-angel:** Hi and thanks, as always! I´m also looking for your next review so hope to see you drop a line here again. You have my gratitude for your constant support!^^

**Cyleana:** Don´t worry about not being able to review, life catches up! Anyways, I´m ecstatic to see you around here again, thank you for taking the time. Suzuya is a troublesome character but I find his addition to the story refreshing which is why I wanted to add him in the fanfic as well. I have some plans for him too, we´ll just have to see how the plot works out first. I´ve analyzed this character plenty in the manga so yay for nailing his ´in-character´ properties! XD. As for their date, what better way to bring them closer than through their mutual passions? And I wanna see their crafts too! I would love to have a mask custom-made from Uta and a dress from Saya but since that´s impossible, I´m sticking with real-life purchases. Thanks for always being here to cheer me up and make my day with a review, I´ll continue to do my best from now on! And you know what? Uta DOES look like Miyavi! I never noticed, thanks for pointing it out :)). I went and searched images of Miyavi online and was shocked by how much those two look alike, hairstyle and tattoos included o.o Is Miyavi hiding something from us? Is he eating humans behind our backs? XD Take care and have a lovely week!

**SchokoDelphin:** Bonjour my dear reviewer, how are you? It´s a good day for me now that I know I helped your heart pound with excitement from my story^^. The effects are plenty, she has an identity crisis at the moment but thankfully, she found out she can´t leave him, even with all the gore included. Love really is blind, isn´t it? There are quite a few extreme cases in the anime and manga where humans sacrifice so much to be with ghouls and Saya is one of them, though, I wanted her to be a bit more cerebral. It´s rather interesting this way and it serves to show she´s not pointlessly related to Kishou after all. Let me know your thoughts on this chapter and many thanks for the health wishing, I value it dearly! The same for you!

**crayonx3:** Greetings and welcome! Don´t worry about reviewing later than my other mates here, you compensated with the sweet and thoughtful review. As a fanfic writer, I also have a sense of pride when I see such carefully polished reviews that express appreciation for my work, thank you! If the story flows well and the characters seem genuine then I can rest at ease. I do think about everything I add to the chapters, no line is useless or placed there for artistic effect, I have something hanging on it that is usually revealed in the following chapters so you can imagine how rewarding it is for me to have readers comment on the small details I hide in the fanfic. Before I created this story, I hesitated because OCs are troublesome and they never seem to fit well in a story. To top it off, Uta is also very hard to deal with, just like you have already stated, he is very chill and blunt about things and he can say the harshest of things in the calmest of voices, as if it´s the most natural thing in the world. That´s one of his main defining traits and I chose to develop that in order to keep him in character. I really wish to see you here again and read another review. Until next time, be well!^^

**Guest (2):** I know, Saya´s expectations were turned upside down. Well, not that drastic, but still, just enough to shake things up. Thanks for letting me know Suzuya´s in character, he´s so precious and adds spice to the story. Keep in touch!

**Flatwaffles29:** Thank you so much! I can keep going because I have so many people who are rooting for this fanfiction and who constantly welcome challenges and turn of events. Thank you for being one of them and for sharing some of your love with me. Take care and drop by again!^^


	9. Hurricane

**Disclaimer**:** **I do not own Tokyo Ghoul. This story is purely fictional.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9: Hurricane<strong>

Accompanied by Noro, Tatara stepped into one of the abandoned storage rooms of the conquered mall in ward 11 where some of his other companions were waiting for his arrival. While Eto and the Bin brothers were sent away in reconnaissance tasks, Ayato and Yakumo Oomori, the one they so frequently referred to as Jason, had been ordered in standby until further notice.

Ayato, a talented child they had picked along the way to join their organization was silently leaning against the wall, eyes closed in contemplation. From time to time he would shoot a disgusted look towards Jason and his clown companion whom he tortured to the brink of pleasure. Jason would dig his fingers in Nico's neck until the feminine man would take it no more and would whimper in release. In return, Jason would heave with enjoyment, finding nothing wrong with the spontaneous source of entertainment. A rather private 'admirer' of the art of killing and torturing, Tatara himself was occasionally disturbed by Jason's twisted tendencies but most of the time, he permitted his quirks due to the fact that Jason's existence in their organization produced results and established Aogiri Tree as an overgrowing resistance force against the doves.

With swift, feline movements, Tatara neared the table Yamori was seated at, his glare commanding the other ghoul to end his aamusement spree.

"Jason. Have you secured the west wing?"

"I did," Jason replied, slightly ruffled for having his fun interrupted. "No scum´s gonna make it alive through there."

"Is that so? Somehow, your men seemed a bit decimated," Tatara sought an explanation, despite already imagining the answer.

"Some of them had an opinion. I just showed them I don´t keep them around for their brains." Jason´s wide mouth disfigured itself into a diabolical grin, fondly remembering the dismembering process of his subordinates. Tatara, however, furrowed his eyebrows threateningly, far from sharing Jason´s enthusiasm.

"You should limit your killings for the time being, we can´t afford to lose soldiers so early in the fight."

"With or without them, it doesn´t make any difference," the blonde ghoul counteracted. He openly disliked Tatara and loathed to take orders for him, nonetheless accumulate warnings from said man. Jason swore he would decapitate that particular Aogiri leader one day and impale his head repeatedly in his collection of metal spikes. Something about Tatara simply frustrated Jason; whether it was his stoic features or the effortless proud gait he carried himself with, Jason was always ready to be conducive to his downfall. "More importantly," Jason pushed aside his chair to stand up and tower over the entire room. "When do we go after that woman? After Rize."

Yes, there was the issue of that woman, Tatara remembered. Hardly given any instances to forget about it, Jason made it his mission to bring up her name unrelatedly, tenths of times per day. Even the way he said her name, emphasized with greed and violence, as if drooling after a forbidden fruit, could bring shivers down anyone´s spine. His first option in capturing Rize would have been Ayato, yet since Jason seemed to be so obsessed with that female ghoul why not send him away? Many of his subordinates would be grateful for his absence.

"As soon as possible," Tatara finally replied only to draw the defiance of a certain blue-haired ghoul who had refused to join the conversation up until the mention of Rize´s name.

"We´re going after Rize? Why not go after that Saya woman? We know she´s involved with a ghoul, it´s going to be child´s play to capture her," Ayato reasoned, exasperated by how his superiors were letting that golden opportunity slip past them. Tatara listened to Ayato´s additions, all the while observing Jason, the latter´s eyes almost popping out at the news of shifting victims. If looks could kill, Ayato would be lying in scattered pieces of meat all around the room.

"Heard that, Jason? Ayato doesn´t think it´s a good idea to pursue Rize. Whatever shall we do?" The ghoul teased in his monotone tempo, taking out a coin from his cloak pocket. "Shall we make this more interesting?" Tatara challenged, positioning the coin on his thumb and index finger. "If it´s heads, we´re going after Rize and if it´s tails, after the other."

They all held their breaths, mesmerized by the trajectory of the coin as it circled in the air and fell on the table a second after it had been released from Tatara´s fingers. It was tails.

Tatara smirked from under his half-mask amused by how much lady Fate herself had no intention of giving Jason what he wanted while Nico gasped, foreseeing a brutal reaction from the man of his dreams. And fair enough, Jason grunted viciously, slamming his hands against the table rhythmically, denying the result with animalistic strength.

"Heads!" He shouted, slamming. "Heads!" He went on, his movements intensifying with each turn. "Heads!" Jason continued screaming but the coin disobeyed, sprinting in the air but not once choosing to frequent the desired side. "HEADS!" Jason screamed at the top of his lungs, the impact of his hands breaking the table under pressure and causing the coin to roll off the wooden surface, circle for a few times and in the end rest on its other neglected side. The coin had given up on Saya.

"Heads," Jason uttered in what sounded like a confirmation and no longer an obnoxious demand and Tatara lost interest.

"We can capture Rize whenever we want but it´s not the same for that other bitch. She´s Arima Kishou´s sister, can´t you see we have the upper hand?" Ayato pushed forward, trying to persuade his superior. But it was always a living hell making them listen to him. How many more he had to kill or how many more successful missions he had to add to his repertoire for them to pay attention to him?

"Ayato-kun. I hope you haven´t forgotten that the goal of this mission is not to win the war but free all the prisoners in Cochlea," Tatara said, in a tone that suggested Ayato would be wise to drop the subject. Between a ghoul who thrived on madness and one who was too young to resort to adapting, Tatara did not have much to work with. "Our sources state Arima won´t be part of this operation and I don´t plan on inviting him for deliberately dragging his sister into this. No need to complicate matters."

Unfortunately, the answer displeased Ayato. He turned to face his superior, hands in his pocket, glare defying.

"Are you that afraid of Arima that you´re letting this chance go to waste?"

"And do you really think we are so weak we have to resort to such petty tricks to defeat a CCG investigator? Do you think I´ll acquire any satisfaction if I bring that dove to his knees by dangling his sister in front of his face? When I finish him, I´ll make sure to do it properly on the battlefield, no handicap for either of us."

Ayato drew back a few steps unconsciously. Tatara did not have to try much to be intimidating, the steel flare in his eyes sufficed in reminding anyone of his strength status and of the obvious difference in power between him and anyone else. Ayato was far from being content with Tatara's explanation but for now, it had to do. His superior was always scheming something behind the stage and his motives always had a secondary expectancy to them because Ayato refused to think pride was what was stopping Tatara from murdering the Arima wench. Pride was only for the weak, his father's death had convinced him of that and Ayato lived by the mantra that when the opportunity came to be, you had to strike with all your might.

Tatara allowed Ayato's slight insurrection blaming it on his youth. The boy was still too inexperienced to understand the ramifications of a good execution. It was not because of fairness that Tatara preferred to let this chance slip, on the contrary, it was because Tatara simply did not fear Arima Kishou. He loathed him to the point of losing control for having lost many important fellow ghouls at his hands and for having been overwhelmed in the previous encounters he had with the investigator but he would make sure to make Arima suffer well for it. When he would strike against him he would do it good, in such a way that he would lose everything at once: his father, his sister and his position. And when he would be nothing more than the dirt under his fingernails, he would waste the white-haired investigator. That was the reason why he left Arima Daichi live. As much as he wanted to break him bone by bone upon finding him among the resistance force, Tatara ordered his subordinates and even himself to let him live and thus send a message to his son. A warning even. The time of ghouls would come soon and no one would be able to do anything about it. His attention slipped to Jason again who was holding the coin like a child in love with their first toy. That man was nothing more than an ape in a suit. A strong one, however and he would be needed in the upcoming war against the CCG. He gestured for Noro to follow him as both leaders left, paying no attention to Ayato´s scrutinizing expression.

Jason let out a spasmodic laugh, bending the coin in two between his fingers.

"Nico," he said with excitement in his voice, "what do you think I´ll do to Rize when I get her?"

"I don´t know," the man in question replied, enamored by his companion. He lightly traced a finger on Jason´t chest, finishing the sentence seductively, "but I hope you´ll do some of it to me tonight."

* * *

><p>"How could you let this happen?!" Saya exclaimed accusingly as she tried to keep up with her brother, both siblings racing on sanitized hospital halls in search for the ICU. Her question remained unattended, Kishou focused more on his surroundings than the incessant complaints of his sister. Saya was falling behind, realizing how such a simple task like matching paces with somebody was not as easy as she remembered but she persevered. She took a good look at her brother´s broad back, his rigorous frame exuding command and an eminence that could never be topped. Was that how Kishou´s team members felt when they were fighting alongside him? Were they intimidated, always on edge and desperate to rise to his standards? If they were, Saya was not surprised, her brother had that effect on her more times than she could count however, Saya was certain of one thing; no man would dare commit the act she was about to do. She shot her hands towards him, latching securely on his arm and brought him face to face with her.<p>

"How could you?" Saya repeated. Any other disobeying hand as that would be thoroughly disciplined by her brother but not hers, she had earned her selfishness with him by right of birth. Kishou sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and not pleased for having to explain himself. Saya´s own digits moved, better said, punctured Kishou´s arm through his sleeve, bombarding him with her demands. "What was he doing in district 11?"

"Aiding the CCG members regain dominance in the area,"

"He is retired!" She cried out exasperated, never thoroughly understanding the fixation these men had in dying proudly with their jobs around their necks. Her father's time in the CCG was long gone, it was not his place to keep fighting that war, they had Kishou now and from all the praises and titles her brother acquired, she figured he was proving out to be pretty damn swell at it.

"He couldn´t stay away. You cannot truly retire from this position," Kishou stated, speaking from experience. Once you attained the function of an investigator, you would only continue growing into it, becoming addicted and chased by the shadow of efficiency and responsibility or else people were going to die directly or indirectly by your hand. He understood the cause of Saya´s distress but he could not really relate to it anymore. As an investigator, you had a job to accomplish and retirement was not enough of an obstacle to deny one the right to re-enter the battlefield. In fact, Kishou had tried negotiating with their father to sit that one out. Ward 11 was never his district, his physical condition not as top-notch as it used to be and as harsh as it sounded, his father's contribution would not make a difference. Nor did Kishou's warning for that matter. But Saya had to inherit her stubbornness from someone and much like the poor result he was currently achieving with his sister, their father had left to join the fallen investigators against all odds.

"He could have died."

Kishou lowered his eyes to regard his sister. Yes, he could have, they were all risking their lives every day. How much more would it take for Saya to realize that the reason she was living so comfortably and out of harm's way was credited to the collective effort both he and their father were putting into their duties? Death was a given and life was a privilege.

She stomped away from him, put off by his composure. Saya knew it was precisely that composure that made Kishou the best at what he was doing but would it hurt him to breach his personal rules and console her? Whenever these types of situations arose, Saya had no one to rely on, no shoulder to cry on. And crying was precisely what she wanted to do. When a professor interrupted her literature class at university in order to inform her that her brother was waiting for her outside and she had to leave urgently, Saya's heart sank. She imagined the same grim scenario only with different circumstances. She thought her brother found out about Uta and was going to send her away on the first plane right after having dismembered said ghoul. But to find out her father had been severely injured in a mission was far worse than she could imagine. As she approached the room he was resting in, her steps became heavier and slower, afraid to step into the room and face a reality she had never considered. The accompanying nurse did the honors and opened the door to Daichi's personal salon, the siblings stepping inside. Their father, serene but unresponsive, looked as if he was sleeping and the feet of the bed, a doctor greeted them, a chart in his hands. Saya went past him, leaving her brother to deal with the medical explanations.

As she got closer to her father, Saya noticed that Daichi, connected to a variety of tubes and IVs, was somehow breathing normally. He had a painful-looking bruise on his left cheek and some plasters across his face, shielding skin that had previously ruptured to expose blood. He had come out of surgery for three broken ribs and a punctured kidney, the doctor updated on their father's condition, and was positive that if he managed to wake up from his coma, he would make a full recovery. But for now, all they had left to do was to play the waiting game. With shaking fingers, Saya took Daichi's hand in her own, begging to whoever was listening to bestow her with strength. Because of this war between humans and ghouls, people all around the world ended hurt or worse, dead. She felt fearful for her father and for Uta. Was this divine punishment for entering a forbidden relationship with a ghoul? Was this life's way of showing her she was committing a mistake? She did not know anymore. Her thoughts were with her father now and they all converged towards his recovery. Saya did not even want to think about Daichi not waking up. If that were to happen, she would die of grief, her entire being assured her of that outcome. In a way she felt partially responsible even though it was not her fault their father was lying motionless in that bed. Everyone was responsible. She stared at her brother until he attributed his attention to her. With tearful eyes, she chocked on the words that refused to come out:

"You should have stopped him."

Kishou did not respond, unyielding eyes staring back at her. Clearly no comfort there. Moreover, she felt like a fool. Unable to resist the image of her comatose father, Saya bolted out the door, leaving the room in silence once again, apart from the beeping sound of the heart monitor which proved their father was still there, still fighting.

* * *

><p>She wasn´t healing as quickly as she thought she would. Ayato´s assault on her had been strong and due to her deviating eating habits, there was clearly a difference in strength. Touka´s stubbornness to eat human food was taking a toll on her and for once, she cursed at her weakness as she failed to save Kaneki from Jason´s claws. Her brother was right; she was weak, otherwise she could have put up a better fight but instead was crushed to the ground, watching helplessly as Kaneki was trashed and abused by that animal right before her very eyes. Touka cringed remembering how much blood she had to clean up from the cups, the tables and she was sure there was blood even in the crevices of the wooden floor where it would dry to remain forever. It was beyond her understanding why someone would come after Kaneki, he was kind, a bit naïve and never caused problems to anyone and yet members of Aogiri Tree now had him in their custody. Was it because of Rize? Most probably. She never really liked that woman. Touka knew she was trouble from the moment she arrived in their district; with her pretty face and twisted games, waltzing into their café shop as if she owned it, Rize was the epitome of danger. Kaneki wouldn´t last a day with Aogiri Tree and Touka would do anything in her power to get him back. Now that the Store Manager and practically everybody at Anteiku had decided to join in the rescuing mission, the only thing they had left to do was to devise a plan that would get all of them alive from that ghoul nest.<p>

Touka finished drawing the blinds and locking Anteiku´s front door. She also moved the outside sign that stated their Special Coffee blends for the day, careful not to have her other wounds rupturing. Her healing rate was faster than that of a human but still not as proficient as that of a binge eater. Touka was almost done making the place as unavailable as possible to customers when **_she _**arrived. Touka turned around to face Saya. Yet another woman that spelled trouble.

"We´re closed, go back."

Saya stopped in her tracks, alerted by Touka´s warning tone. Alas, the girl was never too hospitable towards her but today she was quite rude. Saya only wanted to get away from everything, find a silent place where she could enjoy a cup of coffee and think. Since she had no one to rely on about her problems and going to Uta to cry about her father being hurt by someone from his species was out of the question, she thought Anteiku would be the key. Seeing Kaneki´s face would be enough to ease her nerves and she would have casual talk with him, anything to keep her mind off what was eating her from the inside yet, was this the sound of another door being closer straight into her face? Saya wanted to insist but on a closer inspection, the café did look out of order and was that broken glass on the pavement? Things did not look good and she immediately understood something was wrong.

"Did something happen here?"

"It´s none of your business," Touka spat back. She did not need Arima´s sister hanging around the scenes, poking her nose in unwanted matters. It was amazing how thick-headed she was. Touka gave her all the signals needed to return to where she came from but it seemed her deep frown and comminatory tone were not enough to convince Saya to make herself scarce.

"Can I at least see Kaneki? I would like to speak with him," Saya tried but that only spurred Touka far down into her resentment. It served only to remind her that Kaneki was not there anymore and she could do nothing to take back that mistake. She felt her blood boil, her tension rising into protruding veins around her eyes which turned red with fury.

"I said, GO BACK!" Touka shouted, charging at Saya. The other woman thought she was going to be dismembered if not for the store manager´s intervention. Fortunately, the older man materialized out of thin air and had placed a firm hand on the female ghoul´s shoulder, putting a halt to her irrational attack. Sensing his touch, Touka drew back, her eyes turning back to normal instantly, blinking away her rage.

"Touka-chan, control yourself," Yoshimura advised, releasing her shoulder as soon as she reverted to her more obedient side. "What happened to Kaneki is not Arima-san´s fault."

Saya saw Touka lower her head apologetically yet showing no intention of sharing the same remorse with her. Putting a hand on her chest to calm her beating heart, Saya conjured the courage to inquire about the newly-revealed fact.

"Excuse-me but, what is going on? What happened to Kaneki?"

Yoshimura looked back to her, sensible to her worry.

"I´m sorry Arima-san but it would be wise to leave," he told her and glancing behind the young woman, addressed the lingering silhouette. "See to it that she gets back home safely, Uta-kun."

Previously unaware of his presence, Saya discovered Uta was just a few feet back, drawing closer to the group. When both Touka and the manager disappeared inside the now closed Anteiku café shop, Saya spoke to Uta.

"What are you doing here?"

"I picked up your scent a few blacks away and followed. The real question is, what are **_you_** doing here? Isn´t your family keeping close watch on you in this time of conflict?"

Usually they would, especially Kishou but for the time being, her brother was in no position to worry about her. He already had his hands full with their father and the entire ghoul situation. But at the moment, she was not important.

"Forget about that, did something happen to Kaneki?" She asked anxiously, demanding the truth from Uta and was not disappointed to hear him deliver it.

"He got kidnapped by Aogiri Tree," Uta said, glancing over to the Anteiku establishment. "It was quite gruesome so you´ll have to stay away from the café from now on."

"What?" Saya asked, her breath stopping short in her chest. The same organization that had severely injured her father was also responsible for the abduction of her friend. Saya felt faint and searched for balance in Uta, her fingers curling at his chest in comfort. "Why would they kidnap him?"

Uta stared back at her and at how much her trembling fingers spoke of her fear and tumult. There was no easy way of explaining something as irrational as the Aogiri Tree to someone as black and white as Saya. "They don´t need a reason for what they do, this is the type of organization they are and there are not many who can stand in their way."

"Will they hurt him?"

Again, why hide the truth from her? Uta figured she knew that much on her own.

"Most probably."

Her fingers crumpled his top even more, tainting the fabric with sweat. Saya did not want to hear about such dreadful matters yet she did. She remembered Kaneki´s cheerful voice and pleasant disposition and realized it was unbearable for her to imagine him hurt.

"My father almost died. He fought them, Aogiro Tree and now he´s in a comma," Saya said, having no idea why she told him something so irrelevant.

"I see," he simply responded. No forced apology, no other soothing words, just an observation which sounded incredibly comforting to her. She really needed to tell him and now that she did, she felt the heavy stone on her chest disintegrating a little. His hand slid to her waist, resting there gently and his other one went to her chin, to raise it and render her attentive.

"Everyone at Anteiku is planning to go save Kaneki."

She looked hopeful almost instantaneously but her enthusiasm faded upon realizing how crazy everything sounded.

"But, Aogiri Tree is a vicious force, the entire CCG are having trouble subduing them."

"Which is why Touka-chan and the others are planning to strike on the same night the CCG are attacking the 11th ward."

"That´s insane," Saya whispered, realizing the plan was not that delusional once you really thought about it. This would be the perfect opportunity to get Kaneki back and actually return alive. "Are you…going too?" She asked Uta, clearly fearful.

"Do you want me to?"

She remained silent, dwelling in her conflict stage. He smirked, uttering the same words she was guarding in her mind: "I do but CCG are going to be there and you might get hurt."

She gasped, a bit annoyed for having the words stolen right from her mouth.

"Don´t underestimate the CCG."

"I´m not," Uta replied, caressing her cheek. "I´m more capable than you think, Saya. You´d be surprised," he added, not yet fully convincing her. "But don´t worry, I´ll be joining them. After all, Kaneki is one of my most important clients."

Saya nodded, trying to believe and trust in his survival instincts. He would not be alone, they would all watch out for each other and this was not the first time for him to escape the CCG. "You´ll come back to me in one piece, won´t you?"

"Yes."

That word was all it took. With just one word, the fog had been cleared. She wondered when she became that dependent on him. Regardless, Saya did not feel alone anymore. There was finally someone who could understand and cherish her with the stake of his own life. She raised herself on her toes, locking lips with his, capturing some of his warmth for herself. Out of the blue, her phone began ringing. She took it out of her pocket, exhaling a sigh when seeing the caller ID. It was as if that man knew exactly when she was engaged in something immoral.

"Kishou," Saya greeted, still comfortable in Uta´s arms.

"Return to the hospital," her brother ordered. "Father woke up."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hey guys, sorry for the late update, I had a busy week at work. Happy Late Halloween too, here´s my candy for you guys. I thought it would be nice to show some of the Aogiri members and make it in such a way that Tatara has some sort of past with Arima? Dunno, thought it would make the plot more interesting and I´m alllllllll about that! Anyways, enjoy this chapter! And by the way, Cochlea is the Ghoul Detention Center and their motivation about that war in district 11 is explained in the manga if you all recall.

**Time for my wonderful reviewers now!**

**crayonx3:** Hello again! So happy to see you here *wink. I know what you mean, many fics focus exclusively on the OC and while that may be the point, it´s also a bit tiresome. Sometimes you don´t need to know everything the OC does, it´s good to find out about other characters´ thoughts and actions. Thank you for taking note of Uta´s lines, it´s a bit difficult to imagine him being in love with someone, especially after the entire manga fiasco but, anything is possible if you find the right motivation for it. I wanted him to be with Saya but not give up on what he truly is. To me a story is all about the plot and the twists! I can´t like a story unlike it has twists or makes the reader surprised. Even I´m surprised and get excited when I think of something good for the chapter, this just shows how much I love this story and Tokyo Ghoul. I´m also excited that I get to write more about Aogiri, they´re such an interesting bunch. I especially like Tatara, he´s such a great bad guy, must be the white hair! Who´s your favorite bad guy? XD Thank you for everything and see you next time!

**Chiharu-angel:** I know, sister! I´m scared and excited about it but I´m willing to push forward. Take care, as always.

**sherlaylay:** I thought about how to name that chapter and the answer was under my nose, nothing too complicated. Sometimes I´m envious of Saya, I wish I could be that naïve in love and go all out but things just aren´t like that for everyone. She does worry a lot and she needs to be a bit more selfish, you are totally right but I guess it´s not that simple and she´s not even thinking ahead, such as their life together in the future, if their love could last and if it does, if they can conceive and be happy away in their own little world. So many problems with different species. With her, Uta is both sweet and cruel, he just can´t shake off that double-edged personality of his but I think that makes it better for the relationship. And before you and I knew it, she is already being selfish, isn´t she? She was the one who chose this for herself so she´s starting to open up and live like a person. A person in love with a ghoul XD. Anyways, hope I´ll be able to keep you happy from now on as well and good luck at work! Until next time!

**Cyleana:** Oh my, you gave me the best compliment out there. Thank you so much for taking time to review, I know that it´s troublesome and people are very busy but it means a lot to me to know that people appreciate what I´m doing. I plan to keep writing, I already have the ending figured out so I´m just updating towards it. There´s still a long way to go so please stay with me until then^^. And you guessed it correctly, I do write notes! I have a lot of papers lying around on my desk with chapter drafts or character lines that I want to include, it´s a real plot business here but I enjoy it! I have to plan everything and always reference previous chapters to make everything flow better and create those twists you mentioned. Hope you´re going to see Miyavi live one day, concerts feed the soul! Take care and can´t wait for your review!

**Victoria Pie:** Thank you dear, I absolutely love character development. How can I believe, trust or even relate to a character if he/she does not react or think like a normal person? It´s hard already liking female characters, I know that when I read a new manga or see a new anime, I don´t have that many female characters that I like, which is too bad x.x, right? But in Tokyo Ghoul I always liked Rize, she has that extra something which sets her apart from any other cardboard copy female character in the anime world. Well, on with the chapters! Lots of love!

**iZUMi0715:** Thank you, this made my heart melt T.T. I´m glad you´re enjoying it so far and may you stick around till the end. Let me know more of your opinion whenever you have the chance. Take care.

**wlfchen:** You hit the spot, dear reviewer! Kishou is the perfect son and since Saya has always been in his shadow, she had to work twice as hard and compensate by being a good kid who did as she was told and remain shielded in her golden tower. Also, just as you have said, if her family would find out about the relationship she has with Utam they would never believe she is truly in love with him. They would see Uta as the enemy, someone who is taking advantage of Saya´s naïveté to get to the Arima family and kill them off. In a way, I understand them very well, it´s not that easy being sure of someone´s love and we all know that family always wants what´s best for children. Amon was about to ruin everything for Saya and Uta but luckily, they got away, I couldn´t let their love story end that fast :)). Have a nice week and talk to you once more, it´s great exchanging opinions with you.

**Flatwaffles29:** Thanks so much, here´s another chapter! Uta´s cannibalism is still a problem but they´re working it out as for the ghoul investigators, there´s no fun without drama, right? Yes, I did read the manga and now I´m reading the sequel, so excited about it! I miss a lot of the characters but we´ll just have to see how this goes. Plus, the main character reminds me of Kaneki *wink-wink. Take care and thanks for dropping by for my humble fanfiction.^^

**splitice:** Thank you as well! Just that one line of gratitude was enough to tell me I´m still on the right track. Hope to see you here again!.

**Guest:** Hey and thank you very much for the review! I know that some of you want more of Uta and Saya but the chapter was already too mushy for me to take it and I wanted to slow down on the bonding moments :)). It can get a bit nauseating reading about people being lovey-dovey all the time ir is this just me? XDXD Come back here again and have a great day!

**Hikiri:** Hello! Once again, your reviews are always spot-on, bringing out the essence of each chapter. I believe Amon also has great intuition, I suppose teaming up with Mado opened up a door of possibilities he could not see before so I thought it would be interesting to test him with Uta. He will have a part to play in it but I´m still considering it though. Slowly but surely, I´m getting back on track with the manga/anime and adding the right elements to blend it in and make it sound more believable. Uta´s betrayal will be addressed and indeed, it will be slightly explained, slightly logical or illogical, it depends on how everyone sees it. But it will be there, I intend to leave nothing ignored, that´s the beauty of it. And yes, I did read the manga and now I´m also reading the sequel, it´s going really well. In a way, this story is going towards that one and it will be connected to it in a surprisingly strange way. Please let me know more about your thoughts on this chapter! Bonsoir, my dear reviewer!

**HikariNoKage44:** Hi, it´s nice to meet you! Welcome to the fanfiction! Unlike you, Uta did catch my attention and when I read the manga, I also hated him in the end. But then I realized I hated him because he tricked me as a reader, betrayed my expectations. And when I understood that, I started loving him again, even more actually. The fact that you´re liking Uta because of my fanfiction is great praise, thank you very much. Please continue writing and supporting me, I´m glad to have all of you around me.^^


	10. Down Memory Lane

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Tokyo Ghoul

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10: Down Memory Lane<strong>

Daichi was dreaming. In his state of numbness he had been transported back to his younger years when he had properly become an investigator and had been sent to Germany to the Research Institute and training facilities to acquire considerable knowledge about ghouls. Among all the countries in the world which were leading the combat against ghouls, Germany was, by far, one of the most important. A top-notch Research institute and deadly weapons delivered by the day, Germany was the perfect place to have a taste of reality.

It was there that he met Karl Rosenberg, specialist in Quinque development par excellence. While he was his mentor for a short while, Karl was also his host and in the comfort of his home, Daichi had met Margo and Adelisa. Like two Siamese cats, both women had piercing blue eyes and contrasting hair of black and blonde. Their personalities also clashed. Margo, tall and exuberant, clad herself in pearls and spoke loudly, fearlessly, whereas Adelisa, a tad shorter and possessing a grace of unmistakable nature, favored the act of observing her prey rather than overwhelm it with words. It was with Adelisa that Daichi instantly became love-stricken. There was something about her that made his heart jolt whenever he was in her presence. A certain strength and wisdom pooling in her light-colored eyes or maybe the foreign look of the beautiful woman assured Daichi that no other would shake his existence as Adelisa did. When she accepted him and agreed to follow him to Japan as his wife, he could not believe his ears and when he asked her why she chose him, Adelisa said it was his willingness to do anything for her that made her certain of his love and loyalty. Karl had not been pleased to see one of his daughters snatched away from him especially since deep down, he still rooted for his two offspring to follow in his footsteps.

'I had big plans for these two,' Karl would say to Daichi over a glass of bourbon - one of the rare times the eccentric researcher would open up and confess his sorrow with a tinge of amusement in his tone. 'As a parent, you always hope your children will become what you want them to be but they never do, they squash your expectations and make you realize that they're no longer yours to control and order around shamelessly. I know their potential and I wanted them to become quinque researchers and shake the world of ghouls with their weapons but what can you do when one dreams of becoming an actress and the other spends her day playing the piano and straying from dirty business?'

Daichi would smirk, admitting that the sight of Adelisa in a lab coat would not be that bad but knowing her bonding with a musical instrument rather than a surgical one would make him feel more at ease. Saya as well, had inherited her mother's musical skill and even Kishou himself took lessons in that respect, preferring the more grave and deep cello instead. The time spent with Adelisa, despite being short, had been blissful. His wife had been everything to him and her death nearly killed him too if it weren't for their two children. And now there she was again before his eyes, playing the piano and looking as unreachable as always.

Daichi took a step forward but was instantly stopped by Adelisa's voice.

'Don't come here, Daichi. Not just yet.'

'It's not my time?' The man asked bitterly, wishing to go sit next to her at the piano but remaining motionless nonetheless. She was just as he remembered her, even prettier and that made his heart ache with longing.

'Not yet,' she confirmed smiling.

'Haven't I waited long enough? It's been ten years since you left, Adelisa.'

The young woman rose to her feet, also keeping her distance. 'And you've been fine, my dear.'

'Because I had Kishou and Saya.'

'You still have them and they still need you.'

''They're all grown-up now.'

'We all need our parents, Daichi,' Adelisa said, indicating she knew precisely what she was talking about and Daichi was aware of it as well. When she was alive, his wife had struggled with the need to be close to her family but since distance was an issue it was not often that she could visit Germany. Daichi felt remorseful for thinking, even if for a second, about leaving the world of the living and abandoning their children by his own will. To him, Saya and Kishou were his pride and joy and his loneliness, as heart-breaking as it was, never amounted to the love he felt for the two.

'Did you truly love me, Adelisa?'

The woman blinked her eyes, for a while not understanding the question nor where it came from.

'You never asked me this question,' she said.

Yes, Daichi never did, despite telling her how much he loved her countless times and despite wanting to believe she loved him as much as he loved her, there was always that question at the back of his head, constantly belittling his existence in her eyes.

'It's important to me,' he said, locking his cowardice away. When she was alive, he had been afraid of asking her that question but all of a sudden, the answer did not frighten him anymore. Moreover, he felt entitled to know. He even looked at her straight, having nothing left to lose. Adelisa chuckled, pleasantly surprised to discover this new side of her husband. Almost instantly, she adopted a serious air about her, facing him with all the honesty she could muster.

'I loved you, Daichi. And I still do. Maybe I did not share the same love you harbored for me but I looked for something else in affection. I looked for stability, for unconditional trust and loyalty. I wanted someone who I knew would always be there for me and I was lucky enough to acquire him. I did not covet for a fleeting love Daichi, nor for an attraction that would erode in time but for a sense of completeness that would bloom to last a lifetime,' she confessed, grateful for having the chance to tell all of that to her husband. He now appeared to be so weak and frightened but nevertheless, accepting the answer with relief. 'But aren't you lucky too, Daichi? Aren't you fortunate that your love at first sight did not diminish but instead morphed into a love that resembles my own?'

Daichi nodded, trying to conceal the tears gathering at his eyes.

'We all love differently, my dear. And while I cannot write a romance novel about our liaison, you can rest assured that I would choose you again, Daichi,' Adelisa said, coming closer to her husband. Tears started rolling on Daichi's cheeks, all his pent-up feelings draining away from him. 'If this was my one and only life, I have no regrets and if I am to have one hundred from now on, I will always choose you, my dear.'

"It's been so hard...I miss you everyday," Daichi trembled, revealing his daily mantra. His wife had been the center of his existence and ten years later after her death, she was still the only woman in his heart.

'I know. Be strong. Harsh times are approaching and you need to be there for our children. Especially for Saya.'

Daichi blinked away his confusion.

'Will something happen to Saya?'

'Be there for her,' she repeated. 'For her and for Kishou, just as you have been there for me.'

'Adelisa...' he gasped, realizing that in mere seconds she would be gone and he would not see her again. He tried grabbing onto her arm but she was already white smoke before him, never his entirely.

* * *

><p>Daichi woke up to the image of a bright light stinging his eyes, momentarily confusing his senses and assuring him that he was no longer talking to Adelisa. Instead, his son was right beside his bed, leaned over him, confirming his reversion to reality. Kishou had seen him open his eyes several times, moments in which he called his sister to return to the hospital.<p>

'Father,' Kishou called out , wishing to make sure everything was in order with him.

'Ki...shou, The older man grunted, barely making himself audible against the obstructing oxygen mask over his mouth but conscious enough to relax Kishou's shoulders. His father woke up and recognized him and that was more than he could ask for.

'I'll go get a nurse,' Arima informed and when about to leave his father's side in search for medical help, Daichi raised his hand weakly, attaching it to his son's sack coat. Ignoring his son's protests, Daichi removed his mask and whispered in a ragged tone.

'Tatara was there. The bastard let me live just to tell you this,' Daichi said, his face darkening at that man's image popping back into his head, confident and overly strong. He did not stand a chance against him, wishing the ghoul would rather kill him than put him through the humiliation of waking up to taste defeat in his mouth. Adelisa's earlier words rang into his thoughts, the man briefly regretting being so quick to throw his life away.

'It's alright, Father. You just need to rest right now,' Kishou advised not ready to extract Tatara from his mind just yet. Along with the CCG he had allowed Tatara to grow too strong. While the opportunities had been plenty, that particular ghoul could always make it out alive, much like a cat with nine lives. But even a cat's lives would eventually run out and Kishou would make sure they would. He had to thank Tatara for his surprising sense of pride-one which allowed his father to lengthen his life span.

'Kishou,' Daichi whispered in a grave tone, drawing his son's attention. 'You have to kill Tatara. He's one of the leaders of Aogiri. Cut the evil from its root, Kishou.'

'Father,' Kishou voiced out, staring into the delirious face of his father. 'I am not assigned to the mission in district 11. I am dispatched to apprehend the One-Eyed Owl, do you remember? But rest assured, Marude-san will do everything in his power to rid us of Aogiri.'

Daichi exhaled heavily, letting go of his son and at the same time, of his hope. He looked like a child whose one and only wish had been denied. That hunt for the One-Eyed Owl removed Kishou from dangerous missions to plunge him into even more dangerous missions and while that pestilence of a ghoul had to be exterminated, Daichi continued to feel eternally displeased about it. Being an investigator himself, Kishou fairly understood his father's remorse yet only wished Arima-senior would share his own understanding.

He wondered about what to say next and especially how to say it but was spared by Saya barging into the room gracelessly, eyes full of tears and words of gratitude, a nurse right behind her. She extended her arms to catch her father in an awkward but affectionate embrace and started telling him about how relieved she was to see him awake again. Taking advantage of his relatives' reunion, Kishou exited the room into the hallway, where Marude Itsuki was waiting, face solemn and calm.

'Arima-san,' Marude greeted, his heart going out for the younger man's misfortune. In that line of business, having family members hurt was no rare occurrence, especially when they were as obsessed with their job as Daichi was. The news of having Ward 11 taken away from them had hit them hard but Marude was set on regaining their territory. That was half the reason he was there, for moral support and most importantly for making a promise he was intending to keep.

'Marude-san,' Kishou said back, bowing politely to his senior. 'Thank you for coming, my father will be happy to see you.'

'How is he?'

'Now that he woke up, doctors expect him to make a full recovery. He is a bit restless for failing his comrades but other than that, I believe he will be fine.'

'Arima-san,' Marude began, adopting a serious tone. 'I will do my best to make this mission a success,' the man assured, his fist tightening at his chest earnestly. 'You may leave this to me and focus on defeating that One-Eyed Owl. We will not lose. I give you my word and swear on my pride as a special investigator that I will eliminate those pests.'

'Thank you,' Arima offered his gratitude. They were all in good hands. There was no one more suitable than Marude to be in charge of this mission and his father could actually have his wish of seeing Tatara dismissed fulfilled after all. He shook Marude's hand, transferring some of his encouragement to him as well. Marude then retrieved his hand and looked past Kishou's shoulder.

'Arima-san,' Marude acknowledged Saya's presence. He wondered how long had she been standing there listening to them and if her brother had been aware of it. He must have been since Kishou did not appear surprised to see her behind him. Saya looked drained of power and impossibly sad, the recent events injecting her with a different level of worry.

'The nurse told me to wait outside,' she replied to Kishou's inquiring gaze. Saya heard everything there was to hear, from Marude's vow to exterminate ghouls to her brother's offered thanks to the other investigator. 'Can I come too? On this mission, I mean?' She asked, staring Marude in the eye.

'What do you think you're asking, Saya?' Kishou helped out Marude from his momentary distress. He had never thought he would hear the Arima daughter to request being taken to the battlefield. Marude cleared his throat, choosing the less direct method of refusing the girl.

'Arima-san, I know you want vengeance on behalf of your father but as I was also saying to your brother, you can leave matters in my hands. I will make sure to kill every last ghoul in district 11,' Marude promised with vehemence and it was precisely that vehemence that induced Saya into a state of distress. She bit her lower lip, failing to rise to such noble standards as looking to avenge her father when in fact she only wanted to join because both Uta and Kaneki would be there and she would not forgive herself if anything happened to them.

'I'll stay in the assigned vehicle, I won't move an inch,' Saya tried again, still trying to sensitize Marude for lack of better luck with her brother. 'Please.'

'Arima-san...' Marude said helplessly to the girl.

'Saya. You have no place on the battlefield. You're better suited to watch over Father while he is recovering, this is your mission,' Kishou supplied the girl with the alternative but she resisted.

'Stop treating me like a child!' Saya stated, not wishing to give up.

It was as if time stopped flowing at her outburst and she could finally see who she truly was. She never once shouted at anyone, never once acted selfishly and now she was doing all of those shameful acts altogether, in the face of someone who did not deserve them and who only thought about her well-being. Saya could not believe how much she changed on such short notice. Kishou briefly regarded her as if she was a stranger but she could not blame him for it. Even Marude felt uncomfortable, not wishing to stay in the middle of that quarrel any second longer. But Saya was afraid. She knew ghouls were going to die and while that fact did not personally affect her, she prayed Uta and Kaneki would not be among them. She had to be there. If push came to shove she would jump in front of Uta and protect him, no matter the cost.

Saya stepped forward, defying her brother as she decided:

"I'm going".

* * *

><p>'So you're actually going to go on that Kaneki rescuing mission? Usually, you wouldn't bother,' Itori touted on Uta, placing another glass of red liquid in front of him. As always around that time of the night, they were alone in Itori's bar and whereas Yomo would sometimes join them, he was currently busy discussing the last-minutes details of the Aogiri Tree infiltration.<p>

'It's not much of a bother,' the tattooed ghoul replied, gulping the entire drink in one go.

'Especially since you're hitting two birds with one stone,' Itori declared sneakily, her smile stretching wickedly from one corner of her mouth to the other. Uta dismissed the statement, shoving his empty glass in her line of vision.

'Did anyone ever tell you to invest in larger glasses? Now that's practical.'

'Why not take the whole bottle?' Itori suggested, bringing forth a bottle of the same blood type which he snatched and proceeded to empty.

'She's making you hungry,' the woman added upon witnessing his eagerness to feed himself.

'Very,' Uta agreed, suddenly feeling the need to see Saya again.

Itori sighed, watching him greedily. Years back the both of them would have drenched themselves in blood, spending an entire night on wasting human lives and pulling at each other till they felt they would die of amusement. Years back they were together and she could reach out to him and claim him without repercussions just as simply as he used to do with her. Itori had never been in love, she did not believe ghouls could truly feel that deeply towards someone but she was certain Uta had been her peak, her most wanted and cherished. He had been wild and ruthless, sparing no one and eating everyone, even cannibalize her if she weren't strong enough to put up a barely decent fight. She wondered why they ever drifted apart when they were so good for each other. Maybe they were too good, maybe they just had too much fun. For a brief second she asked herself what exactly he liked about that human girl. As pretty as she was, Arima's sister was Uta's complete opposite and she would never get to know his genuine self. It took all the frankness she could muster but she finally acknowledged she was slightly jealous of Saya. Almost afraid of what she could do and how far away from her she would take Uta.

'Ne, do you really like that girl, Uta?'

Uta glanced down at the lingering hand that had dropped on his arm, issuing caresses long forgotten and had realized it meant nothing to him. He looked up at Itori, whispering poison in her ears:

'I wanted to kill you during that time, Itori.'

'But you didn't,' she said, retrieving her hand disappointed.

'Because that is the real bother,' he supplied.

'You cruel man...'

'Whatever do you mean?'

Extremely cruel. And irresistible. But she knew. Itori comprehended everything from his glare, from the manner in which his exposed white skin glistened and the way the words rolled out from his mouth, how much that woman managed to etch herself into his being. Itori dreaded it. Were she to reach for him once again, he would tear that arm like it was nothing and then plunge in for her heart, bother or not. But maybe that way, they could truly become one.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Hello everyone! I'm so sorry I'm late with this chapter especially since I went over 100 reviews just recently! Thank you so much for reading, for staying with me so long and for letting me know your thoughts! I had a rough time lately with my job and fighting a nasty cold but now I'm back in the game!

I am aware that not many of you are interested in Daichi and Adelisa but I swear, I'm setting the grounds for something, that scene has a purpose.

Thank you for the ones who are following and have added this story to their favorites.

**Special thanks to my reviewers!**

**Cyleana:** OMG, Happy Birthday! I hope you had a wonderful day and you got the presents you wanted. May you have luck in life and good health to accompany you. Sorry for the long wait but I'm so happy to have updated on your birthday, this way I feel like I have given you a present as well^^. Aogiri Tree is really crazy, they have so many challenging characters that simply turn a story into something spectacular, you just have to be prepared to face the characters, take them for what they are and throw them into the mix! As for Saya, even harder times are approaching but she'll manage one way or another. I plan on taking my time and spreading the madness XD. Plus, Kaneki is suffering more at the moment, that precious baby. T.T Sometimes, you need a lot of inspiration for the perfect plot so maybe one day, you'll get there. See you next time, yes! Love!

**Hikiri:** What a precise observation, thank you so much for the comment. To tell you the truth, this is what I've been aiming for, I always wanted to write a story where the characters themselves are wondering what's going to happen next. Maybe that's what makes it more authentic, I don't know. I think it isn't fun for main characters to always be in control, I can never relate to those sort of characters and while Saya is sometimes incredibly stupid and weak, she does have her strong points which will help her character develop more. Thank you for calling the story 'realistic' and for appreciating the effort I put into the lines of my characters, it was the greatest compliment ever. I hope to see you here again, you've all become indispensable to me. Take care!

**Chiharu-angel:** Thank you for the comment! It pains me to think about Kaneki being tortured and while I won't talk about it too much, I still feel so sorry for him. I think it's impossible not to like Kaneki, which is why even Saya can't leave him alone. Catch you next chapter!

**RainingCandy:** Oh, my, thank you! Nice to meet you! Such words of praise, I don't deserve them! However, I'm extremely happy to see you're liking the story so far and that you find the details a good addition. New characters come with their own sets of characters and circumstances so I'm lucky to have so many readers appreciate this. I will continue writing, please watch over me from now on as well ^.^

**Flatwaffles29:** Everyone loves Aogiri, don't they? XD Even I'm super excited about it, it's like I have so many things to choose to write about. And you're right about Jason, that's precisely why I wanted to include that scene, to show how obsessed he is with her. Plus, it would be a bit weird if word did not get around that Arima's little sister is dating a ghoul. Everyone knows except the human side of the conflict, that's more terrifying than Jason itself! Here's the chapter, let me know your thoughts. As always, see you next time.

**sherlaylay:** Ayato simply had to be in it, I secretly like him XD. Not as much as the rest of the dominant characters but who doesn't like a tough guy who still cares for his sister? Though, can I have a piece of his father? I have a thing for overly kind characters who also happen to look like THAT *drool. The new Kaneki will have a play in the following chapters, everything is settled and calculated so hopefully, it will be as exciting for you guys as it is for me. Please continue to root for the story and be pumped about it, I will also look forward to your review. Have a lovely week! (And you're my 100th reviewer! *hands cake)

**Shiro Arisu:** Thank you soooooooooooooooooo much! I'm bringing Uta love back, the bastard still hasn't left my heart. Welcome to the story and you have my gratitude for taking the time to comment and I really hope it won't be the last time. Unfortunately, I can't tell you what will happen in the end but I will make sure to give the best, logical ending to this fanfiction, taking into account the characters and their actions in the original story *wink

**Megohime of Mutsu:** It's ok if you didn't review, we all have lives and time is so short. I need more hours in a day and I'm sure there are many of you who vouch for the same thing! Thanks for the encouraging words, I'm also curious to see how you find Adelisa. And I'm also aching to write fighting scenes, next chapter shall help me work on description and action, to the point scenes will be extremely vivid. May we speak again! Love love!

**The Chocolate Cow:** Thank you, my new reviewer! Yes, some moments seem to pass a bit quick but that's because I don't want to bore my readers. Plus, this fanfiction is not nearing its end that fast so there will be opportunities to drag it on. But I'm fortunate to know it's successful and pleasing fans. Step by here again!^^

**wlfchen:** No worries, I got your review now and that makes me really happy! You said a very accurate thing, the story is connecting the dots and running in circles to both confuse and enlighten the reader. I really miss watching Tokyo Ghoul so writing this fanfiction is helping me cope with my loss XD. I hope to hear from you again. Until then, please take care! :)

**crayonx3:** Hey there once again!^^ Rize is also a favorite for me, she is true to her nature and does not deny what she is. I actually wanted to set out to write about Rize at first but in the end, Uta won, the rascal! Thank you for always reviewing and keeping me confident about this story, your words are always encouraging. Whenever I see your id picture, I get reminded of Suzuya! Do you know how much of a big part he has in this fanfiction? Nobody knows yet, just me so hopefully, I'll spread some Suzuya love as well. Have a great day as well and talk to you next time!


End file.
